A slice of rum cake, a copy of a Royal Gazette article, some sunscreen and a mock postcard.

Together with the 30-second Obama Barack campaign TV advert attacking Sen. McCain's visit to Bermuda last year, these are the elements to be found at the heart of the furore that has placed Bermuda, for the moment, centre stage in the tense US election campaign.

A jokey press pack was this week handed out by the Democratic National Committee to US journalists.

The pack contained a copy of the 30-second TV advert which highlighted Sen. McCain's Bermuda visit and TheRoyal Gazette report of his support for the offshore insurance and reinsurance industry.

The rest of the press pack was a humourous 'Bermuda survival kit' including sunscreen, a small slice of rum cake, a snow globe and a "mock postcard from McCain to his campaign manager telling him the weather's great, and so are the campaign cash opportunities," according to one of the recipients, Stephen Dinan of The Washington Post.

"Most important, though, was a copy of the Bermuda Royal Gazette with the article in which McCain promises to 'oppose any measures that would upset' the tax haven," Mr. Dinan reported on Wednesday.

n Watch the Obama campaign video at The Royal Gazette website: www.royalgazette.com