OS ANGELES - Governor Paul Cellucci, darting around town yesterday with a Bush pin on his lapel, wanted to make a few things perfectly clear: The Republican Governors Association paid for his trip out here, not taxpayers. And Massachusetts is his primary focus, not the prospect of a job in a GOP administration.
But Cellucci, one of the Republican governors dispatched here to rebut the Democratic message at their national convention, is already working for George W. Bush.
For more than 10 hours yesterday, the governor trashed Al Gore's candidacy and President Clinton's speech to the convention, while pumping up Bush in interviews with any media outlet that would have him. And there were plenty, from BusinessWeek's Web site to a San Diego radio station.
In fact, Cellucci was on his feet so much that by the time he sat down for lunch with reporters at Engine Company No. 28, a converted firehouse, his back was sore.
''I don't see how they inflict much damage'' on Bush, Cellucci said confidently over a turkey burger plate and iced tea.
And at an earlier news conference, Cellucci said Clinton and Gore ''deserve some credit for the economy. ... But the Republican Congress gets credit, the Republican governors get credit.''
Later in the day, a Massachusetts state trooper shuttled Cellucci to the Staples Center for yet another round of interviews with local and national media. The air conditioned sedan was able to drive up to the door of the convention center, a luxury in the city's rising heat afforded only to top officials. Just about everyone else had to walk through a phalanx of Jersey barriers and security checkpoints.
''It's not bad being governor,'' Cellucci said, clearly enjoying the special treatment and deflecting speculation that he is stumping for Bush at least in part in hopes of winning a job in a Bush administration. There are 30 Republican governors in this country, Cellucci said, ''and people think 30 Republican governors will get jobs'' in the administration if Bush is elected.
''I've been helping the Bushes since 1979,'' Cellucci said. ''My primary focus is on Massachusetts. That's one reason why I want these debates'' with would-be Democratic gubernatorial candidates. ''I'm fully engaged in Massachusetts.''
Though the gubernatorial election is two years away, Cellucci has already challenged Democrats considering the job to debates. One potential contender, Steve Grossman, former chairman of the state Democratic Party, agreed Sunday to debate Cellucci, perhaps sometime in the fall.
In the meantime, Cellucci is targeting Democrats at the highest level before he is scheduled to return to Boston today. He arrived here Saturday night, but kept a low profile until events officially began yesterday.
''I don't want to wear out my welcome,'' the governor said, later adding that he could afford to be out of state for one business day while the Legislature is out of session.
The comment was doubtless directed at those back home, and some members of the Massachusetts delegation here, who have been critical of Cellucci's trip, saying he should be focusing on problems back home, like the financing plan for the Big Dig.
Coincidentally, Cellucci ran into US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater on the streets of Los Angeles, both surprised to see each other outside the usual context: around a conference table with federal auditors wanting to know how the Big Dig's price tag had grown to shocking proportions.
''We have a good relationship,'' Cellucci said of Slater, despite the federal government's outrage over the Big Dig's nearly $2 billion cost overrrun.
Cellucci spent most of the day with members of his own party, including Governor Jim Gilmore of Virginia. He said he is enjoying his role as the outsider at the Democrats' event.
''Someone said, `What's it like being out here with all these Democrats?' And I said, it's just like being back at home.''
As for bringing the Democratic National Convention to Boston in 2004, which Mayor Thomas M. Menino is trying to do, Cellucci said hosting such events could be ''a logistical nightmare.''
The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia was well run, he said, noting that the chairman of the RNC, Andrew Card, is from Massachusetts.
The last time Cellucci was here on official business was in 1999, when he was trying to persuade filmmakers to make movies in Massachusetts. Yesterday, he was here trying to persuade people to vote for Bush, and perhaps mingle with the stars. Or be mistaken for one.
Cellucci said he was anxious to go to dinner at Ago, the restaurant owned by gubernatorial look-alike Robert DeNiro.
''I'm going to walk in,'' Cellucci quipped, ''like I own the place.''
