Senator Mitch McConnell, leader of the Republicans in the United States Senate, tells Deaglán de Bréadún in Louisville, Kentucky, that George Bush is not for turning.
He may be one of the most powerful figures in US politics but Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican Party whip in the Senate, says he was a worried man on the day of the presidential election. Exit polls conducted as voters left the polling booths were coming thick and fast, but few if any contained good news for George Bush.
Mr McConnell - whose ancestor James McConnell emigrated from Co Down in the 1760s aged five and later fought in the American Revolutionary War - says the exit polls leaking out that afternoon left himself and his party colleagues feeling "quite depressed".
But happily for the Republicans, the polls turned out to be wrong.
"You can imagine we were all pleasantly surprised," he says. There were Senate elections the same day and he is pleased to have 55 Republican senators under his care as majority whip - four more than before.
He says his job is like "trying to keep frogs in a wheelbarrow". Meanwhile, Mr McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, is also a major political player, as US Secretary of Labour.
He turns serious when asked what the Bush administration is going to do in Iraq. "The administration is going to win in Iraq," he says firmly. "We haven't finished the job. Finishing the job is getting the Iraqi military and police up to snuff."
No matter who won the presidency, the approach would have been the same, he says. "In spite of the rhetoric in the campaign, the strategy is really quite clear. There are going to be Iraqi elections in January which will choose a group of people who will then draft a constitution.
"That constitution will then be submitted to the people and they will have elections pursuant to that constitution at the end of 2005. We're going to stay the course, we're going to finish the job, and I think if John Kerry had been elected he would have done exactly the same thing."
The media were not presenting an accurate picture, he claimed. "Fifteen of the 18 (Iraqi) provinces are perfectly calm. That's never written about because I know they teach all you guys in journalism school that only bad news is news. In 15 of the 18 provinces, people are going about their business every day and leading normal lives. Three of them are a heck of a problem."
Speaking in advance of the latest anticipated attack by coalition forces, he predicted: "We're going to take out Falluja - that's under way shortly - and go forward."
As for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, President Bush was waiting for the emergence of a Palestinian leader who could make a deal where Yasser Arafat had failed to do so.
"President Clinton did an excellent job of creating the atmosphere, right at the end of his administration, for a final settlement. They offered Arafat everything any Israeli government could ever offer. And he said No. They offered him statehood, a capital in part of east Jerusalem, everything except the right of return which, in effect, means Israel doesn't exist any more. And he said No."
At that point, President Bush "decided to stick with Sharon".
Mr McConnell believes this was the right approach: "Sharon, in spite of his reputation in earlier years for being such a hawk, has actually been a pretty reasonable guy."
The Palestinian leadership, on the other hand, had been "quite poor" but this could change. "Maybe some day they'll choose a leader who can make a deal."
Looking back on the presidential campaign, he says: "People felt that this was an election of real consequence. There was something about 9-11 that changed the mindset in this country."
He cautions against exaggerating the level of division in the US.
"It's divided, but it doesn't mean that we're all out there slugging each other all the time. Passions were very high this year."