Gov. Blagojevich attends re-created
White House state dinner         

[APRIL 19, 2005]  SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his wife, first lady Patti Blagojevich, attended a re-created White House state dinner on Monday evening at the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

The event featured a Lincoln-era menu and 19th-century music courtesy of the 312th Army Band. The first David Herbert Donald Prize for Excellence in Lincoln Studies was presented to its namesake, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the definitive one-volume Lincoln biography.

The dinner was hosted by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. Proceeds will benefit the foundation, a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary mission is to support the exhibits and programs of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

[News release from the governor's office]