Baltimore City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake was among a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors invited to the White House on Thursday.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the group about the administration's urban policy and its plans to generate jobs in cities and towns across the country.

The delegation of mayors in the East Room was not exactly an exclusive group: More than 200 names were on the guest list, including some from outside the United States.

Rawlings-Blake was the only Marylander on the list and the only person identified as a council president.

The invitation that was extended to Baltimore's next mayor was significant in at least one regard: Mayor Sheila Dixon received the cold shoulder from Obama because the Baltimore Democrat was then under indictment (and later convicted).

Dixon did meet with Obama in Chicago before she was indicted. And she made arrangements to fly from Florida to Washington to attend last year's Conference of Mayors event with the president. But the invitation was withdrawn after The Baltimore Sun called the White House to check the decision to put Dixon on the guest list.