Possible Clues:

• More intimate one concludes?
• Not so far from a hundred one has lost
• Nearer in time or space
• One nearly just can't win without a head
• Perhaps one who has lost a hundred - far less than that
• Sales specialist
• More airless
• Not so far from college with competitor who was not successful
• More immediate Conservative failure
• One who is skilled at bringing a business transaction to a satisfactory conclusion