Irish politicians from north and south will take the road to the White House next week for President Clinton's last St Patrick's Day party, but already Northern Ireland is figuring in the campaigns to elect his successor.
Not in a way that is getting much attention in the American media, it must be said, but enough to make Irish-American politicians, both Democratic and Republican, feel they have some clout.
New York, where the substantial Irish vote is a prize worth winning, was an obvious venue last week for the "Irish-American Presidential Forum" to seek the views of all the candidates on Northern Ireland. Invitations were sent to Vice-President Gore and former Senator Bradley on the Democratic side and to Governor George Bush, Senator John McCain and former ambassador Alan Keyes on the Republican side.
Only Al Gore showed up, but this was predictable as a Republican has never attended one of these forums which go back to the 1984 election. Republicans in past years have seen Northern Ireland as a Democratic preserve with little mileage in it for them but this is now changing.
One of the most active Irish-American politicians in Northern Ireland affairs is Republican Congressman Peter King from New York who is possibly Gerry Adams's closest American contact. This year Mr King, who switched his support from Bush to McCain, tried hard to get the latter to attend the forum and show off his new credentials on the peace process.
McCain, of Scottish ancestry, had in the lead-up to the 1996 election been an outspoken critic of the "terrorist" IRA and of President Clinton's decision to grant Gerry Adams a visa to enter the US in that year, soon after the Canary Wharf bombing. Indeed, he and King had a stand-up row in the British embassy in Washington a few years ago over Northern Ireland and McCain once told King that the only Republican issue he (King) supported was "the Irish Republican Army". Now under King's tutelage, McCain has somewhat different views, praises George Mitchell's role in the Good Friday agreement and does not object to Mr Adams visiting the White House.
New York supporters of the second Republican candidate, George Bush, also wanted to polish his almost non-existent Northern Ireland credentials as he faced McCain in a crucial primary election last week. Bush was seen to have made a faux pas when in a debate in South Carolina with McCain he referred to the peace process as "falling apart" even though that was how it appeared to most people, including Gerry Adams, following the suspension of the institutions.
McCain, in a statement to the Irish Voice, accused Bush of having "dismissed more than five years of effort, risk and sacrifice by bold and courageous men and women in Northern Ireland". The Bush supporters in New York were not going to let McCain and King away with this. A full-page advertisement with the heading "Irish for Bush" appeared a few days before the primary in the Irish-American newspapers "Paid for by Bush for President Inc". Bush said in the ad that if elected president he would "use the prestige of the presidency to promote peace in Northern Ireland". He said that "if necessary I will name a Special Peace Envoy to continue the good work of former Senator George Mitchell and move the Irish peace process forward". He also called for the restoration of the assembly.
The appointment of a peace envoy has always been a demand of the organisers of the Presidential Forum. President Clinton agreed to it when he spoke there in 1992.
But in the aftermath of the Belfast Agreement it seems an anachronism. Senator Mitchell, incidentally, was never a "peace envoy" and in fact the Irish government of Albert Reynolds persuaded Clinton not to send such an envoy.
Al Gore, in his presentation to the forum, avoided all mention of an envoy while affirming his full support for the peace process and insisting that Sinn Fein representatives would continue to have access to the White House, contrary to some British media reports.
The Irish-Americans have reason to be pleased. They have succeeded in committing the future president, whether it be Gore or Bush, to a future activist role in Northern Ireland.
But the Irish-American Democrats may privately regret that they can no longer criticise the Republicans for dragging their heels on Northern Ireland or for leaning towards a British or unionist viewpoint on the issue.
Bush's credentials on Northern Ireland may not be as prominent as those of Al Gore but he can no longer be accused of the uninterest noted by the monitoring group, Northern Ireland Alert.
Now that the primary season is effectively over, it remains to be seen how and whether Northern Ireland will figure in the presidential election campaign itself.