Bill Gates Runs His Own State Department

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

Ralph Munro, Washington's former secretary of state, noticed the change in the late 1980s, less than halfway into his 20 years in office. He'd travel to China. He'd dine in Japan. Foreign dignitaries from presidents to premiers inevitably started asking the same two questions:

Do you know Bill Gates?

Can I meet Bill Gates?

"I'd have to tell them, I'd only met him once myself," Munro said with a chuckle. "The effect of the man is enormous."

Never will this have been more on display than this week, when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the Seattle area. Central to the plans of a man who leads one of the world's most powerful countries: a Tuesday night dinner with Gates.

Political and business leaders say the dinner is just a public indication of a trend that's been building for the past few years. Increasingly, the Microsoft billionaire and his palatial Medina estate serve as an extension of the State Department. Sort of a White House West.

The private sector and politics.