US Cabinet Secretary Jim Nicholson has been vacationing on the island in recent days along with America's leading wine importer John F. Mariani, Jr as guests of billionaire Bermuda resident and two-time Reform Party Presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Veterans Affairs Secretary and former Republican National Committee chairmanMr. Nicholson and Banfi Vintners CEO Mr. Mariani reportedly enjoyed their time together in Bermuda with the Texas computer magnate and political maverick who ran unsuccessful third-party campaigns for the US Presidency in 1992 and 1996 .

"Ross has three boats, nice ones," a Bermuda source told the newspaper after spotting the high-powered trio aboard one "fast boat" owned by the long-time Tucker's Town resident.

Mr. Nicholson was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in December 2004, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on January 26, 2005.

As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Nicholson is the principal advocate for military veterans in the US government. He also directs the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second largest Cabinet Department, responsible for a nation-wide system of health care services, benefits programmes, and national cemeteries for America's veterans and dependants.

With a budget of more than $69 billion for fiscal year 2005, Veterans Affairs employs some 230,000 people at hundreds of medical centres, clinics, nursing homes, benefits offices, and national cemeteries throughout the US.

It wasn't terribly long ago, as political campaigns go, that Mr. Nicholson, as head of the RNC, personally begged ultra-conservative Patrick Buchanan not to divide the Republican Party by running as the Presidential candidate for the Perot-founded Reform Party ? which he ended up doing in 2000.

As a result of nominating Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Perot ? unhappy with the party's new extremism ? appeared on CNN's four days before the election to endorse Republican George W. Bush for President.

Mr. Perot later quit the third-party movement he founded in 1992.

Cornell graduate Mr. Mariani is credited with transforming family-owned Banfi into one of the world's most prestigious wine houses.

Long recognised as America's leading wine importer, its reputation has been enhanced in recent years by Banfi's dominance of the rapidly expanding Chilean wine market.

Additionally, through wine estates the company now operates in Italy, Banfi has gained a reputation for producing award-winning premium wines that rival the finest offerings of Europe.