Washington  - US president-elect Barack Obama will dine on the eve of his Tuesday inauguration with several top Republicans in the Democrat's latest attempt to build bridges with the conservative party.

Obama will attend three separate dinners Monday evening with prominent current or retired Republican senators presiding: John Warner, Chuck Hagel and Lindsey Graham.

One of the dinners will honour Senator John McCain, defeated by Obama in the November presidential election after months of hard- fought campaigning. Obama already reached out two weeks after the election, when he hosted his 72-year-old former opponent for a private meeting in Chicago.

Obama has reportedly since sought McCain's advice on the top choices for his national security team, including appointments to the Pentagon. McCain is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Obama will honour former secretary of state Colin Powell during the second event. Obama has previously sought the retired general's advice. Powell, who rose to the top US military post during under the first president George Bush before becoming secretary of state for current President George W Bush, endorsed Obama's candidacy.

The third dinner is to pay respects to vice president-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat who will be introduced by Hagel. Obama pledged during the campaign to change partisan politics in Washington and seems to be getting high marks for the effort, particularly for embracing McCain.

"I don't think there is a precedent for this. Sometimes there is bad blood, sometimes there is so-so blood, but rarely is there good blood," Fred Greenstein, professor-emeritus at Princeton University, told The New York Times.

Earlier this month, Obama joined a dinner party with a group of conservative columnists, including William Kristol, David Brooks, George Will and Charles Krauthammer. Some of them have been among Obama's toughest critics.

After winning the election, Obama insisted that he would seek a diverse group of advisors. He decided to keep Bush's Defence Secretary Robert Gates in the post, a move that drew praise from both parties as a sign that he intends to meet his campaign promise bring a prompt but responsible end to the war in Iraq. Obama also picked a Republican congressman to head the Transportation Department.

Even though Democrats hold majorities in the House and Senate, Obama's aides met with Republicans to outline the president-elect's proposed 825-billion-dollar spending plan to review the downtrodden economy.

To appease Republicans, Obama decided not to include language to repeal Bush's tax cuts for the highest-earning Americans, but the move angered Democrats who want the reductions pulled even before they expire in 2010. Republicans have expressed concerns about the size of the stimulus package, but the criticism has not been with the ferocity usually reserved for Washington. (dpa)