In the state rooms and diplomatic salons of East Asia two whispered questions have been echoing for months: is the United States really prepared to elect a woman president and how would more conservative parts of Asia deal with it?
Rightly or wrongly, it seems a vexing subject for many of the region's political and diplomatic elites, undoubtedly a reflection of the fact the arena is dominated by men. At times, the question seems laced with a touch of fear, almost as if the man asking it is looking for reassurance that sanity will prevail and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will remain a former first lady.
No one will say it publicly but the prospect of a woman in the White House is leading to considerable head scratching, among both Washington's traditional regional allies such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand, and emerging former foes such as China and Vietnam. Will a new approach be required? Will the old conventions of back-room cut and thrust remain or is the playing field about to change?
Absurd as it may seem, these questions are being asked over lunches and in the corners of cocktail rooms. All the more remarkable given the likelihood that Senator Clinton would probably prove to be an entirely conventional centrist Democrat if in power.
'All new presidents enter with a touch of uncertainty, but a woman? My word, that is something very new for us,' one Japanese envoy explained. 'You must remember, it is not something that is about to happen in our system.'
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is one of the region's last great bastions of the male-dominated smoke-filled room.
Driving the debate has been the fact that a Hillary White House has loomed as a very real prospect for months, given the damage to the Republican cause after eight controversial years of George W. Bush. Barack Obama's performance has challenged that view in recent days as he moves from fresh-faced outsider to leading Democratic contender, while the Republicans finally converge around a resurgent Senator John McCain.
