A seasoned Irish campaigner is about to give Hillary Clinton some electioneering advice - but the latter doesn't know it yet. Fine Gael MEP and former Irish presidential candidate Mary Banotti will be in New York this weekend and intends seeking out the First Lady to lend a hand in her campaign for the US Senate.
Banotti is in the US for a special gathering of UN goodwill ambassadors on Monday, to be hosted by secretary-general Kofi Annan, "to explore with one another and with UN colleagues how to strengthen their common efforts". The goodwill ambassadors include Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Douglas, Muhammad Ali, Nadine Gordimer, Lord Attenborough, Vanessa Redgrave and Roger Moore, as well as Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney and Ms Banotti.