Britain's Brown looks past Bush presidency

By Matt Spetalnick and Sumeet Desai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held talks with U.S. presidential candidates on Thursday before seeing President George W. Bush, a stark reminder that world leaders are now looking to his successor.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain came off the campaign trail to talk with Brown, who praised them afterwards for their commitment to a strong bond between the United States and Britain.

Only then did he go to the White House and sit down with Bush, who shares the British prime minister's plight -- low popularity and economic problems at home.

With Bush in the final year of his presidency, Brown was expected to walk a fine line, keeping some distance on issues like the unpopular war in Iraq while preserving Britain's long-standing "special relationship" with the United States.

Brown, on his second U.S. visit since taking office last year, has said he is seeking "coordinated action" to shore up the global economy, plagued by a credit crunch, record oil prices and market turmoil.

Determined to avoid being tagged as "Bush's poodle" like his predecessor Tony Blair, Brown seemed just as eager to lay the groundwork for closer relations with the next president as he was to maintain ties with the White House incumbent.

A series of 45-minute sessions at the British ambassador's residence may have yielded clues to how the winner of the November election might change policies that have at times rankled Britain and other European allies.

"I'm absolutely confident that having talked to the three candidates that the special relationship between our two countries is strong and secure and valued by all of them," Brown told reporters before arriving at the White House.