THE Irish Americans for Clinton Gore kicked off their campaign the day that the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, demonstrated his bipartisanship towards the US election by meeting leading Republicans such as Bob Dale, Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich. He had earlier in the week met President Clinton.
The Washington based Irish for Clinton Gore had already launched its own campaign in the Tip O'Neill Roam of the National Democratic Club. Far complex legal reasons this campaign has to be run separately from the national one and cannot use Clinton Gore in its title. But Democratic heavyweights Senator Chris Dodd, Bruce Morrison, Richard Neal and Tom Mantan gave it their blessing.
While conventional wisdom says that Irish Americans vote heavily Democrat, this has been challenged in recent years. As the Irish move up the social ladder and move into the suburbs they are mare attracted to Republican policies on tax cuts and against abortion.
The so called "Reagan Democrats" who crossed over in the 1980s had many Irish among them. But in 1992, a determined effort was made to sew up the Irish vote far Bill Clinton by leaders in the myriad Irish American organisations. He promised a new understanding in the White House towards Northern Ireland.
Now four years later, the time has came far the Irish Americans to deliver the vote again far Clinton although his record over four years is not unblemished.
His refusal to intervene in the extradition of Jimmy Smyth last month was deeply resented among the more Republican elements, especially an the west coast and in New York, while his indirect veto of the bill backing the MacBride principles an nondiscrimination in Northern Ireland angered others. His signature of the welfare reform bill removing benefits from even legal Immigrants was denounced by same of his greatest admirers in the Irish American press.
The President's veto of the bill to ban late abortions has mobilised one of the biggest Catholic church campaigns to influence Congress to override the veto. The Catholic vote much of it Irish is seen as a key factor in this campaign.
But the personal attention paid to the Northern Ireland situation by Clinton and the "risks" he took over the visas far Gerry Adams and Joe Cahill have ensured renewed support far him from the Irish American community. His triumphant visit to Northern Ireland last year is still a vibrant memory.
So Irish Americans far Clinton Gore with the official blessing of the Democratic national campaign will be out in the next seven weeks fund raising, registering voters and motivating the ethnic organisations. It will be a "thank you Mr President" campaign, says Bruce Morrison, the farmer congressman who played an important role in bringing about the IRA ceasefire.
Brian O'Dwyer, the New York lawyer who was prominent in 1992 far Clinton and who also works for the Emerald Isle immigration centre, says that they are targeting 18 states this time compared with only four or five the last time. There is a big Irish vote in California and New York but these states are seen as already wan far Clinton.
The campaign to persuade Irish and other immigrants to take out US citizenship has flooded the rolls with over a million new voters. So successful has the campaign been that the Republicans are accusing the Immigration and Naturalisatian Service, a federal agency, of playing politics in the rush to grant citizenship as it is assumed that most of the new voters will be grateful Democrats.
There is also an Irish Americans far Dale campaign driven by Republican congressmen from New York such as Pete King, Ben Gilman and Jack Quinn with a close interest in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately far them the speech at the Republican convention by the farmer secretary of state, Jim Baker, criticising the Clinton Irish policy caused an outcry in Irish American circles so this may not be their year.