When Harvey and Paula Darden, an Obama-supporting couple from Georgia, turned up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last month, they were expecting a quick nose around the White House as part of a tour organised by their congressman. But after arriving 24 hours early - on Veterans Day - they found themselves the surprise guests at an invitation-only breakfast with Barack and Michelle Obama. And the president`s aides again found themselves forced to defend the White House`s admissions policy. The Dardens` inadvertent upgrade took place two weeks before the Virginia socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed the Obamas` state dinner for the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, embarrassing their hosts and raising serious security concerns. The White House has downplayed the latest incident, saying that the Dardens were security-checked and then allowed into the breakfast as a courtesy as there were no public tours on the day in question. Mr Darden, 67, told Associated Press that neither he nor his wife had been told about the breakfast and they had arrived at the White House only to discover their names were not on the admission list that day. But after providing photographic identification, they were ushered into the east room, told they would be meeting the president, and invited to help themselves to the buffet. "The further we got into the White House, the more surprised we were," said Darden. "My wife looked at me, and I looked at her, and I said, `You know, I don`t know if we`re in the right place.`" Darden said it had been "quite a treat" to meet the Obamas and the Bidens. But he remains confused as to how they were escorted into a private breakfast, and anxious after the media storm over the Salahi episode. The only thing he and his wife regretted, he added, was that they had yet to receive a copy of their picture with the Obamas.