White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel invited a group of Republicans to the White House last night.

"It was a friendly get-together," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), who was present at the meeting. "Clearly Rahm Emanuel is trying to keep in contact with his friends in Congress."

Although the House is scheduled to vote on the controversial economic recovery package today, Ehlers told RealClearPolitics that the vote was not the center of the meeting's agenda.

"We talked about it. But we talked about other things as well," Ehlers said. "There was no arm twisting. Very little discussion on it. He just wanted our opinion on it. What the chances were."

"We did talk about the stimulus," he said, "but only in terms of where the money is going."

Ehlers is an eight-term moderate Republican representing one of the most Republican districts in the Midwest. It's members like Ehlers whom Democrats -- in Congress and the White House -- hope to keep an open dialogue with and possibly win their votes.

Emanuel told the group that he wished to make their meeting a regular occurrence, "and that was our hope as well," Ehlers said.