WHITE House officials decided early this week to tell the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, that he "ought not to rule out" elections as a way of advancing the peace process, a senior administration source told The Irish Times yesterday.
Both sides have since denied that any pressure was put on Mr Adams during his talks at the White House on Thursday with the National Security Adviser, Mr Tony Lake, during which President Clinton dropped by.
The White House was at pains after the Adams visit to avow neutrality on the issue, especially after reports in The Irish Times and London Times that some senior US officials believed elections could bring unionists to the table.
The official Washington line is that elections should be discussed at all party talks. An official said after the meeting: "It is not for us to endorse any specific ideas, but to discuss with the parties their idea of the ways forward."
Opposition to elections as a precondition to all party talks has grown on Capitol Hill during the week, with Senators Kennedy and Dodd backing the Sinn Fein position at a meeting with Mr Adams on Thursday.
Yesterday, 71 members of the US House of Representatives wrote to President Clinton saying it was "completely unacceptable" for the British government to delay the dialogue for peace by throwing out a new precondition for talks.
The letter, drafted by Mr Joe, Kennedy (Democrat) and Mr Ben Gilman (Republican), asked the President to remind the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, in the strongest possible terms of his commitment "to start all party talks at the end of February".
The flurry of words over whether officials were planning to nudge Mr Adams towards elections underlines the sensitivity of the White House position as it tries to help the peace process maintain momentum.
During a visit on Tuesday by the Northern Ireland Office minister, Mr Michael Ancram, US officials are said to have been impressed by the British argument that Mr Major is genuinely trying to move the process forward, and that elections are necessary to get unionists to the negotiating table.
The administration source said senior officials also believed the Dublin Government might be more flexible on the questions of elections as time went by.
Mr Adams yesterday met the Irish Ambassador, Mr Dermot Gallagher, the AFL-CIO leader, Mr John Sweeney, and the US Commerce Secretary, Mr Ron Brown, on a second day of engagements in the US capital. Today, he travels to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a fund raising event.
He said the discussions at the Commerce Department included the prospect of a new investment conference on Northern Ireland.