KEY POINTS:
All things going to plan, Helen Clark's programme in Washington begins tomorrow morning when she meets Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
It would be disappointing if an unexpected international crisis requiring Dr Rice's attention scuppered the meeting, but not disastrous.
The meeting she can least afford to miss tomorrow is with members of the powerful Congress.
The meeting on the Hill is the second most important appointment on the Prime Minister's schedule.
The Congress is the wind in the President's free trade sail and Democrats in power haven't decided whether to whip up a bit of speed or let George W. Bush run out of puff. So he needs them to be effective in trade. New Zealand needs them both.
New Zealand is not expecting any green light on a free trade deal during the Clark visit.
But there is so much uncertainty around some important variables that Helen Clark is putting in extra spadework in preparation for the unexpected.
New Zealand is not in the queue in the sense of having a firm commitment from the United States.
But it is in the pool that has been told it will get something one day but we just don't know when.
New Zealand wants to be ready for any eventuality that might create a window to join the queue and there are hints it could happen.
At the outset, few expected a new Democrat-dominated Congress to give President Bush another trade promotion authority (TPA) to fast-track the World Trade Organisation and bilateral deals when the present one expires in June. Now it is a possibility.
President Bush might decide that New Zealand has become strategically important enough in the Pacific to overcome domestic opposition from a protected agriculture sector.
The Pacific is officially more important to the US this week than it was last and has warranted a new "whole of Government approach", so much so the State Department had declared 2007 to be the Year of the Pacific.
Negotiations with Malaysia or South Korea might fall over and create room for another. Or none of the above might happen. In any event, Helen Clark should go down a treat with those members of Congress who decide to give her a hearing. The free-trading Republicans are already on-side. But she should also go down well with her Democrat sister party by giving due deference to labour and environmental concerns that New Zealand has championed in WTO talks.
A persuasive Clark could add great weight to the cause of New Zealand on the hill. It would also not harm George Bush's cause for a renewed TPA, nor her own case for an FTA when she meets him on Thursday.
