Seoul is known to have 16 firms on its payroll. India, China and Taiwan all funnel large sums into Washington. While these lobbyists have always had some influence on America's foreign policy, they are set to gain a lot more. The risk is that a Congress driven by these special interests will increasingly determine America's positions on developments in Asia without much consideration for their broader implications. It is easy to imagine Congress pressuring the president to approve, say, a major arms deal to Taiwan just as some other initiative aimed at fostering better relations with Beijing is getting under way.
Some analysts are hopeful.
George Bush might try to bridge Washington's differences by offering foreign-policy cabinet positions to Democrats. Al Gore might offer to support Republican foreign-policy initiatives he has previously opposed. The next president might prove to be a great leader, one able to work with both sides of the aisle, as John F. Kennedy did after he came to office. But if those hopes prove distant, Asia's pundits won't be laughing for long. Murray Hiebert, Sadanand Dhume and Joanna Slater contributed to this article.