One intimate adviser says, "Look at his record; he never quits, even when it might make sense."

"Discovering that press secretaries do not stay very long suggests they are not very intimate advisers," Mr. Hess writes in a report on his study.

The intermediary in the discussions was Jose Blandon, an intimate political adviser of General Noriega's who has now broken with him and testified before the American grand juries last month.

Moskowitz became one of Smith's most intimate advisers.

He's said to be one of the king's most intimate advisers.

So, like his predecessors, Mr. Sharon has relegated decision-making to a small group of intimate advisers, often keeping the cabinet in the dark until the last moment.

Gambetta constantly urged her to marry him during this period, but she always refused, fearing to compromise his career; she remained, however, his confidante and intimate adviser in all his political plans.

He rose into high favour with the Protector, and was one of his intimate advisers, attending him on his death-bed.

Mr. Ruebhausen (pronounced REEB-howzen) was an intimate but unpaid adviser to Rockefeller for many years, although he refused the governor's offers to serve in his administration or his family foundations.

He served as an intimate adviser to two presidential candidates, and launched exploratory bids himself in 2000 and 2006.