By all appearances, Vice President Cheney's trip to Iraq Monday has paid off already, though the White House wasn't sure whether or not to give him any credit.

Iraq's presidential council said yesterday that they will soon pass a law approving local elections in all of the country's 18 provinces. This would help decentralize power outside the Shiite-controlled federal government in Baghdad, and is considered key to reconciling the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

The White House hesitated to chalk up positive development to the vice president's presence there Monday.

"I don't know if the Vice President was able to push it over the top, if his conversation helped or not," said White House press secretary Dana Perino today. "But we are pleased that it came to a resolution."

Mrs. Perino said during the daily press briefing that she did not know if Mr. Cheney had spoken with Iraqi Vice President Adel Mehdi about the provincial elections issue. But Mr. Cheney told ABC News' Martha Raddatz in an interview yesterday that he had.

"I talked with him about that," Mr. Cheney said. "They expect they'll have that resolved shortly."

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times