One person Mrs McAleese won't be meeting is the man expected to be next ambassador to Dublin, Michael J. Sullivan, because he has not yet been nominated by the president, let alone faced the FBI interrogations or Senate hearings. He is still in deepest Wyoming.
News that a relatively unknown former state governor from the wild west may replace Jean Kennedy Smith came both as a shock and a disappointment to the east coast establishment. Washington lawyer Paul Quinn lobbied hardest, but those also strongly tipped in "the other race for the Park" were Dick Riley, Tom Donahoe, Mark Gearan and Bruce Morrison. Sullivan has no track record on Ireland but they know the president rewards supporters and Sullivan was one of the first democratic governors to back Clinton in 1992.
