One of President Clinton's closest advisers on Northern Ireland affairs said yesterday that neither the Democratic nor Republican presidential candidates would give the same priority to the issue as the US President had over the last eight years, writes George Jackson, in Derry.
Speaking in Derry, Senator Chris Dodd said he believed that neither Governor George W. Bush nor Vice-President Al Gore would sustain President Clinton's interest in Northern Ireland.
"In a sense Al Gore and the President take some pride in their involvement with the issues of the North, but there's no likelihood in my view that either George Bush or Al Gore are going to have anywhere near the commitment on this issue that President Clinton has.
"He considers his involvement here one of the most important and significant achievements of his administration, and it's too much to expect that either of his successors would have this issue as top of their agenda as it has been on his."
Mr Dodd said Mr Clinton would like to come back to the North before he left office.