Republican presidential nominee John McCain gave it a miss. But Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential candidate and the glamorous new poster girl of GOP, made it for her first meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
McCain, who was scheduled to meet Manmohan Singh at Hotel New York Palace on Wednesday evening, failed to show up due to his preoccupation with the unprecedented financial crisis that has gripped the US.
In his place, Palin, the small-town mayor turned governor of Alaska who describes herself as a "hockey mom", had her first taste of India when she met Manmohan Singh on Wednesday evening.
Manmohan Singh told Palin, who has hardly travelled overseas and is being attacked by her critics for naivete in foreign policy, about a rising India which is opening a new chapter in its relations with the US, an Indian official told IANS.
He also discussed the precariously poised India-US nuclear deal with Palin and updated her on India's positions on a wide variety of global issues ranging from climate change to terrorism.
The bespectacled Palin, who flaunts Alaska-shaped gold earrings, met Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday and discussed with them the ongoing crises in their countries.
{{/usCountry}}The bespectacled Palin, who flaunts Alaska-shaped gold earrings, met Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday and discussed with them the ongoing crises in their countries.
{{/usCountry}}She also met former US Secretary of State Henry A Kissinger in his Park Avenue office. The US media has described these meetings as Palin's "crash course in foreign policy."