US:As John McCain prepared to address the Irish-American Republicans at New York's Republican Women's Club on Wednesday evening, he first had to pass a noisy protest by Grandmothers Against the War.
Such protests now follow the Arizona senator almost everywhere, on account of his outspoken support for President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq.
Inside the club, a sparse but enthusiastic crowd cheered Mr McCain, who would confirm a few hours later on David Letterman'sTV talk show that he is running for president in 2008.
A formal announcement will follow next month, but Wednesday's high-profile declaration may have been designed to halt a sharp decline in Mr McCain's popularity and to slow down the rise of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani as his strongest rival for the Republican nomination.
If Republican primary voters were all Irish-Americans, Mr McCain would have little to fear, and not just because he is the most authentically Irish-American
Republican presidential contender since Ronald Reagan. The 70-year-old senator, who can speak at length about the novels and stories of Roddy Doyle and William Trevor, is also the most powerful Republican voice in the senate on the twomost important political issues affecting Ireland - US immigration reform and the Northern peace process. He is cautiously optimistic that a breakthrough is imminent on both issues and he praised Sinn Féin leaders he has previously criticised.
"I was critical on several occasions of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. I'd like to stand here before you and tell you that they have come a long, long way and made an enormous contribution to this peace process. I did speak with Dr Paisley and I still believe there's a good chance some time late in March that we could see something good happen, although we have to keep our fingers crossed," he said.
With Democratic senator Edward Kennedy, Mr McCain has led efforts to reform the US immigration system and to allow an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to remain in the US and eventually apply for citizenship.
Irish immigration activists say about 50,000 Irish citizens are among the undocumented who would be affected by such a reform.
"I've never been more aware of 50,000 individuals than I am of the undocumented here. We now have a window of opportunity in Washington . . . The administration is engaged in a way it has not been before," he said. Mr McCain was speaking as opinion polls show him trailing badly behind Mr Giuliani among
Republican voters, despite the former mayor's support for abortion rights, civil rights for gays and lesbians and gun control. Mr McCain, who has sought in recent months to win support from Christian conservatives with whom he clashed during his 2000 election run, appears to have alienated moderates in the process. After Wednesday's event, he insisted wearily that he has not changed his position on issues such as abortion rights (which he opposes) and government funding for embryonic stem cell research (which he supports), but acknowledged that the polls were probably accurate.
"The campaign is just beginning, but certainly I view Mayor Giuliani as an American hero and I can see why he's very popular with many Americans," he said. Despite his lead in the polls, Mr Giuliani faces serious hurdles in his bid for the Republican nomination and pollsters say that many conservatives are as yet unaware of his liberal record on social issues. His private life could also become an issue if his rivals point out that he has been married three times, once shared an apartment with a gay couple and has dressed in drag on anumber of public occasions.
Stung by criticism that he has abandoned the apparently straight-talking, spontaneous manner that won him the affection of many Democrats and independent voters, Mr McCain drew back from his embrace of right wingers this week by turning down an invitation to speak at a major conservative political conference
in Washington. On the Letterman show, Mr McCain showed flashes of his old self as he made self-deprecating jokes about his age, but he may have become a little too relaxed as he spoke about the lives of 3,100 US soldiers that had been "wasted" in Iraq. Mr McCain later apologised, saying he meant to use the word "sacrificed", but the gaffe reinforced a mounting suspicion that the former Republican front-runner may not be such a safe bet after all.