Among insiders, Roland Betts is the outsider. Betts is a Democrat, not a Republican. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, not Texas. In an interview with NEWSWEEK, Betts described himself as “a friend” of the GOP presidential candidate, not an adviser, but added that the two men talk “constantly.” Betts insisted that he does not second-guess Bush’s tight circle of political handlers, but he is obviously not shy about voicing his own opinions. Back in February, Betts complained to Bush that the governor’s advisers were keeping the candidate “in a box,” isolating him from voters and reporters. When Bush lost to John McCain in New Hampshire, Betts says he told Bush, “George, you should be interacting and answering questions all day. You are the charming one.” Bush’s rightward lurch in South Carolina “made me uncomfortable and I told him that,” says Betts. When Bush was portrayed as a racist, Betts complained that more wasn’t being done to erase the image. After Bush won the primaries, Betts urged the governor to reach beyond his Texas advisers and bring in “other voices.” He also pushed Bush to move back to the political center. “He totally agrees,” says Betts. “I’ve been very consistent with him over the months about the importance of getting back in the middle, not only because that’s where he’ll win, but because that’s where he’s comfortable.”

Bush was unavailable to comment on Betts’s influence, but no one who knows the two men doubts the strength of the bond. At Yale, Bush says Betts’s father, Allan, was a kind of surrogate father. The older Betts was a Wall Street moneyman and fervent Old Blue. Young Betts–like Bush–both adored his father and needed to escape his shadow. Young Betts, whose nickname is “Bowly,” became a teacher in Harlem and married a black woman, one of 14 children from a poor family. When Betts decided to make his own fortune, he did it by financing movie deals for Walt Disney.

In 1989, Bush went to his wealthy friend and asked him to invest in the Texas Rangers, the major-league baseball team he was trying to buy. Betts ponied up $3.6 million, enough to swing the deal. Betts extracted Bush’s promise not to run for political office until he had turned around the flagging team. “You haven’t really done something on your own,” Betts remembers telling him. “You’re just the son of the former president. I don’t think that’s the way to run and win.” The Rangers gave Bush the exposure and platform he needed. Joining Bush in the owners’ box, where he was autographing pictures of himself, Betts couldn’t resist joking: “George, I don’t know how to tell you this, but the men’s bathroom floor is covered with those photos of you.” Betts warned Bush not to run against Texas Gov. Ann Richards. “George was a blurter,” said Betts. “I thought there was no way he’d keep his sharp tongue in check.”

Betts steers clear of policy battles, but he remains Bush’s trusted confidant. When the time came for his daughter Barbara to choose a college, Bush was eager to have Betts, a Yale trustee, talk to her. One of Betts’s daughters helped persuade Barbara to choose Yale (Barbara’s twin, Jenna, is going to the University of Texas). Betts says Bush asked him, “I want you to do for Barbara what your dad did for me: keep an eye on her.” Betts will also keep an eye on Bush, and keep on telling him the hard truths that sometimes only an old friend can.