Romney's academic credentials were competitive with any of them, but he had something more, Bain recalled.

"Think of the way he looks now and picture him 30 years younger," Bain said. "He was very good looking. He was very comfortable in his body. He moved gracefully. He wasn't awkward. He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe 10 years older."

Like other consulting firms, Bain coached new employees in how to impress older executives. Bain bought each consultant a copy of the bestseller "Dress for Success" and provided a clothing allowance. Clients learned to expect a familiar red tie and monogrammed shirt when the next "Bainiacs" stepped off the elevator. (Most were men.)

Romney seemed to have been born freshly pressed. And colleagues say he was quick to adapt to each client, an essential skill.

By around 1981, however, he was restless for a company to run. He nearly accepted a job at an electronics conglomerate in the hope of eventually running one of its businesses. He stayed when Bain wrote him a check for $200,000 and promised to get him a better position, Bain said.

When Bain proposed starting Bain Capital about two years later, Romney said, "I loved the idea," adding that he was cautious at first because "it is my nature to study things extensively before I jump."

To ease Bain's concerns about yielding control of the new venture, Romney set up a complicated partnership structure that gave Bain the right to fire him. In the early years, Bain & Co. partners received a cut of Bain Capital profits, as well, although Romney later persuaded Bain to give that up.

Still, Bain recalled, "all the risk and investment was basically on my side. I was clearly putting my neck on the line and the company on the line."

Bain took the lead in raising money from his partners and rich friends, including Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the Boston real estate mogul, and Robert K. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots football team. But he always took Romney along to help seal the deal. The younger man would stand in front of a string of skeptical multimillionaires, flipping overhead projector slides that highlighted Bain Capital's plans, honing the knack for opening wallets that would help him become the top Republican presidential fund-raiser this year.

The political fund raising "was a lot easier than raising some of the first Bain funds, I can assure you," said Kriss, the former Bain partner. "Mitt is very, very good at that, and he has done it for a long time."