Brown flies to Washington on 3rd March for a meeting with President Obama.
Downing Street will no doubt be feeling smug at winning this photo opportunity but I doubt that Obama's stardust will rub off on Labour.
More likely British voters will see the contrast between a fresh leader - still full of promise - and an exhausted leader, who was Finance Minister throughout the years of excess.
My guess is that the White House won't go out of its way to praise Brown. They read opinion polls and they know that they're 90% likely to be dealing with a Prime Minister David Cameron within fifteen months.
