ith virtually the whole Republican establishment lined up early behind Texas Governor George W. Bush, it fell to people such as Marshall Carter to raise the millions of dollars necessary for John McCain to run a credible presidential campaign.
Carter, 59, the head of State Street Corp., met McCain years before the Arizona senator decided to run for president. The meeting came after the death of the financial services executive's father, who was a close friend of McCain's father.
With a lot in common - Carter's father and grandfather were generals, McCain's father and grandfather admirals, and both Carter and McCain were Vietnam combat veterans - the bond was immediate and strong.
In a recent interview at State Street headquarters, amid memorabilia of clipper ships and the China trade, Carter said his father had spoken to him about McCain, but that was not the reason he reached out to the senator in 1993.
''We had a very common background and really hit it off,'' Carter said.
Carter commanded mortar and rifle units during his first tour inVietnam, was an adviser to the South Vietnamese marines during his second, and was awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart. He resigned in 1975 with the rank of major in the Marine Corps.
''Things were very rough in the military in the mid-70s,'' Carter said, explaining his decision to leave the family business.
''I was not happy with the officers at colonel level and above,'' Carter said. Younger officers skilled in modern technology and management techniques ''had to wade through these ranks of people who hadn't had the education ... We were doing 90 percent of the general's work and were going to have to wait 20 years to sit in his chair. Meanwhile, I was running into assistant secretaries of state who were my age, 36 or 37.''
Carter's initial job after the service was with Chase Manhattan, a New York bank that valued his post-Vietnam experience as a Pentagon planner. By the early 1990s, he was living in Cambridge and running State Street, one of the country's premier asset management and custody firms.
''I remember asking the clerk when we were registering to vote whether there were many Republicans in Cambridge,'' he said, ''and she said, `Well, there's you. And your wife. And me.'''
Carter raised funds for McCain's last Senate reelection campaign, and is a member of the national finance committee for the presidential run.
Carter says he is not to be a close adviser to the senator. But some campaign sources say he is one of the individuals McCain consults when he wants to talk with someone outside the world of specialists and political strategists.
Herb Allison, the former Merrill Lynch president who chairs the finance committee, said that Carter ''has been one of our most dedicated and effective leaders in fund-raising. His position, the respect he enjoys, is very important.
''When he talks about John McCain, he reeks credibility. It is very powerful,'' Allison said.
With the work of the finance committee - and the prodigal spending by the Bush camp - McCain has pulled even and maybe even ahead of the Texas governor in the financial campaign.
Having helped in this, Carter criticizes the Republican foe:
''Bush has a lot of explaining to do,'' Carter said. ''If you can't manage $60 million in campaign funds - I hear $16 million of it went for overhead - how are you going to manage the country?''
