"Marvin takes care of everything," Milton Ferrell, Kerry's Florida fundraiser, said as he introduced him to a donor at a reception that afternoon. "He's the reason Senator Kerry is here and alive."
Shoulder to lean on
He -- and his ubiquitous shoulder satchel, which Nicholson said weighs a bit more than a full golf bag.
Among the contents: Immodium: "Traveler's best friend," Nicholson said.
Post-it notes: "We don't," he said when asked how he uses them. "I just carry them because once he asked me for them."
A sewing kit: Kerry lost a button on his blazer back in New Hampshire.
On a recent night at the Atlanta airport, Nicholson was headed for the plane just before 10pm. His left hand stretched over two copies of a new hardcover on the middle class, a paper bag of cookies and an orange hat someone had given Kerry that day, his right reached for Kerry's briefcase and one of those green duffels.
Suddenly, Kerry turned from the line of veterans who had shown up to shake his hand. "Marv," he whispered urgently, "Do you have a ... ?"
Before the candidate could complete the question, Nicholson slipped a marker from his suit pocket and uncapped it with his teeth. Another hat signed, Nicholson followed his boss, Sherpa-like, onto the plane bound for Tampa.
Three hours later, having bid the candidate goodnight, he sipped a beer and sucked a cigarette poolside, explaining his front-row seat on history to a local police officer, who marveled at the constant travel and lack of time off.
"It's not like I'm carrying around 50-pound bags of rocks every day," Nicholson said. "Well," he added after a pause, "not all the time."
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