"Now we go home and go to work," said Edward Collins Jr., a labor representative from Springfield. "I don't envision this being a Herculean task in Massachusetts."

Bill Clinton carried Massachusetts and the other five New England states in 1992 and 1996. Perhaps more ominously for Texas Gov. George W. Bush -- the Republicans' nominee -- his rival, John McCain, won this year's primaries in Massachusetts and four of the region's five other states.

Some predicted that Gore's choice for vice president, Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, would help even more in neighboring Massachusetts.

Bay State Republicans say Clinton won easily in Massachusetts in 1996 because Republican candidate, Bob Dole, spent little time or money in the state. Bush has already pledged to campaign in Massachusetts, they say.

Massachusetts state Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, said the Bay State, with its liberal-centrist attitudes, isn't fertile ground for the Bush campaign.

"There's not a strong connection to George W. Bush and his policies," Kaprielian said.

The state's Democratic leaders, secure in Gore's hold on the state, were already discussing at the convention this week the possibility of sending Massachusetts party activists to more tightly contested states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey.

Democrats were riding high after Gore's acceptance speech Thursday night, a 51-minute speech that was filled with specific policy proposals.

"America wanted to hear the substance," said Susan Shaer, executive director of Women's Action for New Directions, a women's peace organization. "They wanted Al Gore to be his own man and he declared that in spades."

Some observers called it a "populist" speech because of the many references to "working families" and Gore's repeated pledge "to fight for the people, not the powerful."

"It's populism, and populism is powerful," said Shaer, a delegate from Arlington, Mass. "That's always been our tradition in Massachusetts."