A few blocks away, at a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting, Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., dressed in a blue blazer and Cape Cod tie, started the first day of his one-year term as the Democratic congressional representative to the international body.

It is a busy week to begin a new assignment. Yesterday's daylong meetings on climate change attracted 80 heads of state and was the largest gathering of world leaders ever held on the topic, according to the U.N. press office. President Bush, who will host his own climate conference later this week in Washington, was expected last night only for a final dinner hosted by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The U.N.'s 62nd General Assembly, which kicks off its general debate today, is scheduled to tackle topics ranging from Palestine to international cooperation in outer space.

As Democratic congressional representative — his Republican counterpart is Rep. Ted Poe of Texas — Delahunt was appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has a dual role: to convey his party's foreign relations policy to the members of the United Nations, and to convey their sentiments back to his Democratic colleagues.

Additionally, as chairman of the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on international organizations, human rights and oversight, Delahunt plans to schedule a series of bipartisan briefings involving U.N. representatives and Congress.

"Our national security interests are very much implicated in the U.N.," Delahunt said yesterday, in between meetings on climate control and international refugees. "If Iraq is going to stand on its own, it's going to take U.N. involvement."

Delahunt opened his first day with yogurt and fruit at the Alex Hotel with Timothy Wirth, a former Colorado senator, and now president of the United Nations Foundation, a charitable organization that supports U.N. programs around the world.

Breakfast was followed with a brief meeting at a sidewalk cafe outside the hotel with staff from his Washington office and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Then he and several staffers walked the two blocks to the U.S. mission's temporary office in a skyscraper on East 45th St. There he met with a half-dozen retired U.S. ambassadors to foreign nations. The former diplomats spend three months a year volunteering their services as a resource for the State Department and government officials. Poe will have the same opportunity to meet with them if he wants it.

Sitting at a conference table in an airy room decorated with lithographs by contemporary American artists such as Frank Stella, Delahunt listened as he was briefed on a variety of international issues, such as Iraqi refugees in Syria and the image of America abroad.

Each former diplomat advised him that the most effective means of accomplishing anything at the U.N. is to listen and establish personal relationships with representatives of other countries.

From the U.S. mission, Delahunt moved on to the U.N. building itself, where he spent much of the morning in briefings and meetings about climate issues with officials such as John Ashton, British special representative for climate change.

That was followed by more diplomatic networking over lunch.

At the request of Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Delahunt represented his country at a luncheon sponsored by the Norwegian delegation at a restaurant inside Trump World Tower, a luxurious condominium tower near the U.N. Another guest was Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan.

After lunch it was back to the U.N. for more meetings and then on to the dinner with President Bush at Khalilzad's residence.

Delahunt was scheduled to fly back to Washington, D.C., today.

Karen Jeffrey can be reached at kjeffrey@capecodonline.com.

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