Labour leader Ed Miliband is hoping to catch Barack Obama when he is in Washington for an informal "brush-by" at the White House allowing him to bolster his foreign policy credentials in the run-up to the 2015 election.
ON THE BLOG: Labour peer Stewart Wood writes - "Miliband's Visit to Washington Provides a Timely Reminder of the Post-Crash Challenges Faced on Both Sides of the Atlantic"
Jonathan Powell, who organised Tony Blair's meeting with Bill Clinton before he became Prime Minister, told the BBC that such an encounter was "the nearest that a leader of an opposition gets to a job interview", adding: "It has to go right. If it goes wrong, there are very serious consequences back home."
Miliband has met Obama before when he came to London in 2011, and the US president urged him to stay positive to win the next election.
How will he do this time? We have taken a look back at recent meetings - or attempts at meeting- between leaders of the opposition and US presidents.