One thing our contacts in Washington stressed to us the other day was the concern in the Administration that the US not be seen to be using the Rice visit to prop up support in New Zealand for either the Labour Party or Winston Peters.
The latest news about Winston Peters and money from Owen Glenn could therefore not be worse timed. The US and Rice personally will not want to be associated in anyway with whiff of scandal, and it looks as though this is going to be a big one.
