A picture from Denver, where John McCain had a brief meeting (read: photo opp) with His Holiness:

Of course, everybody gets something here: McCain gets a much needed international diplomacy photo in the papers, after a week where most of America became comfortable with the idea of a President Obama as the presumptive democratic nominee made daily headlines as he trotted the globe and helicoptered in over war zones. The Dalai Lama being in Denver at the same time as himself was certainly a stroke of luck for McCain, then, as newspapers always have a soft spot for photos of world leaders shaking his hand, especially with the Olympics approaching (recall Bush’s spotlight glory when he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Medal of Honor in October).

For the Dalai Lama, on the other hand, it’s just one more opportunity to show that he’s relevant. He made a point of noting he wasn’t endorsing McCain’s bid (because that would certainly have turned those swing states red!) and even got McCain to spew some nice scripted lines about Tibet, the Olympics, and human rights. There’s a feeling, circulating in the last year, that the free Tibet movement is losing steam, and that the world will begin the process of forgetting about the would-be theocracy after the Olympics. This may, then, be the Dalai Lama savoring his last moments in the spotlight–after this he’ll likely need to go back to using politicians to get on the front page again, instead of having the honor of them leaching off his celebrity.