KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark is expected to make a strong bid tomorrow to get United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit New Zealand in September.
Helen Clark flies into Washington this afternoon (NZ time). Her first big meeting is scheduled with Dr Rice at 3am tomorrow (NZ time).
Dr Rice will be invited to attend the second Partnership Forum in Auckland following the Sydney Apec summit - as will President George W. Bush.
The forum is run by the New Zealand United Sates Council and its Washington counterpart. The first meeting was held last year in Washington.
Helen Clark and Dr Rice are also expected to cover issues that will form the agenda for the meeting with President Bush the following day, including the greater emphasis the United States has decided to place on Pacific stability.
The pair have met several times before. Dr Rice was the National Security Adviser to President Bush in 2002 when Helen Clark first visited the White House, and was the highest profile woman in American politics at the time.
Before her, President Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, was one of the few women to crack Washington's glass ceiling.
The face of the American capital has changed in a short time however, and Dr Rice now tops the list of a number of other powerful women Helen Clark will meet during her two-day visit.
After the Rice meeting, Helen Clark will give a speech to the Asia Society, then head to Capitol Hill to meet the first woman Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. She will also meet Senator Barbara Boxer, the member of the foreign relations committee responsible for Asia and the Pacific.
And following her meeting with President Bush, the Prime Minister will meet US Trade Representative (equivalent to Trade Minister) Susan C. Schwab.
Helen Clark does not expect to meet Senator Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democatic nomination to contest the 2008 election.
Some of the women who matter
Condoleezza Rice
* Secretary of State
* Has repeatedly denied speculation that she will stand for President in 2008.
* Former National Security Adviser and head of the security council that sought an apology from Helen Clark over comments on the Iraq war.
* A former political science professor. Special adviser to George Bush senior on security affairs with special interest in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Was a Democrat until Jimmy Carter turned her Republican in 1982.
* A child genius, accomplished pianist, figure skater and football fanatic. Gets on well with Winston Peters and has telephoned him several times.
Nancy Pelosi
* Speaker, House of Representatives
* Elected to post in mid-term Congressional elections in November. Democrat member of the House from San Francisco since 1987. Had been the House Minority leader for five years.
* Next in line to the presidency, after the vice-president.
* Daughter of a Congressman and of Italian heritage. Mother of five, grandmother of six.
* One of her daughters, journalist Alexandra, made a film of the 2004 presidential campaign titled Journeys with George.
* The Economist rates her as having had a good start but cautions she will face problems if she takes Bush on head first over Iraq.
Susan Schwab
* US Trade Representative
* Equivalent to Trade Negotiations Minister, post held by Bob Zoellick in Bush's first term. She was No. 2 to Rob Portman who held the post before becoming director of the Office of Management and Budget.
* Has a PhD in public administration and international business. Was Dean of School of Public Policy at University of Maryland for eight years. Previously an aide to Senator John Danforth. Her late husband was a professional magician, but died last year of a terminal illness shortly after she returned from Apec in Hanoi.
Barbara Boxer
* Democrat Senator
* In post since 1992 and before a House Representative for 10 years.
* On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, head of the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
* Strong environmentalist. Former stockbroker and journalist and has published a novel.
* Her daughter was married to Hillary Clinton's brother.
