ormer Dukakis aides are playing major roles in Gore's campaign
John Sasso, the strategist behind Michael Dukakis's presidential run, is headed back on the campaign trail, leading a pack of other former Duke operatives in a final push to help salvage Al Gore's White House bid.
This weekend, Sasso is in Michigan, where Gore is in a very tight race for what most observers feel is a state he must win in order to prevail Nov. 7. With Sasso in that key state will be Charles ''Chuck'' Campion, of Brookline, another veteran of several presidential campaigns.
Paul Pezzella, a former top operative in the Dukakis presidential campaign in Florida, is back in the Sunshine State this fall for Gore. And Joe Ricca, who headed up Dukakis' Iowa primary operations in 1988, is spending this month in Wisconsin for Gore. Ex-Duke aide Mardee Xifaras of New Bedford is heading Gore's Pennsylvania field operation.
nge in tactics: Swift courts media
In a major turn-around, a chastened Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift is abandoning those who advised her when her State House scandals hit the news, and is quietly reaching out to the media that once scorched her.
Over the last month since the State Ethics Commission levied a $1,250 fine against her, Swift has dined and privately met with Boston reporters and editorial writers, letting them know her mea culpa is for real.
It hasn't been easy for the woman who has a decent chance of becoming acting governor early next year. Some are convinced Governor Paul Cellucci will take a job with George W. Bush or grab the US Senate seat if Al Gore appoints John Kerry to the Cabinet.
Early in her troubles, administration sources said Swift was getting advice from the likes of former top Weld fund-raiser Peter Berlandi, whose distrust of the press seeped into the lieutenant governor's strategy. Interestingly, while Swift may have been listening to Berlandi, the former fund-raiser has been shut off from the lieutenant governor's biggest defender, Cellucci.
''The governor doesn't return Berlandi's phone calls,'' said one well-informed source. Cellucci apparently is not forgetting Berlandi's refusal to back him in the 1998 race against Democrat Scott Harshbarger - a Berlandi friend.
Grossman speaks with wallet in backing bid to blunt tax rollback
All the potential Democratic candidates for governor in 2002 publicly oppose Question 4, Cellucci's initiative petition to roll back the income tax rate from 5.85 to 5 percent. But only former national party chairman Steve Grossman has put his money where his mouth is. Grossman donated $25,000 to the Campaign for Massachusetts' Future, the committee opposing Question 4. He also donated $394 worth of ''meeting refreshments,'' and MassEnvelopePlus, the Somerville company he runs, donated printing services worth $3,000 to the campaign.
Sydney considered sticker route
After her 181-vote loss to Frank Smizik in the Democratic primary, Brookline state Representative Ronny Sydney gave serious thought to running as a write-in/sticker candidate next month. Sydney and some of her key supporters even met with consultant and Worcester Mayor Raymond Mariano, himself fresh from a bruising primary defeat, his unsuccessful challenge of Worcester County Clerk of Courts Loring Lamoureux. Sydney abandoned the rematch idea, however, when it became apparent it was a long shot, at best.
Robinson sees no need to seek more funds for Senate race
Though he sent cash to a string of Republican candidates last week, millionaire Jack E. Robinson has all but given up on his own fund-raising efforts in his bid for the US Senate. Where Libertarian Carla Howell has collected upwards of $700,000 - and Senator Edward M. Kennedy has $4.2 million - Robinson's self-described cybercampaign has about as much cash flow as a typical dot-com these days. Robinson says he has raised about $20,000, and lent his campaign about $200,000 of his own money. ''If I need to do any more fund-raising, I'll write myself a check,'' he says.
Younger Carlin on education board
There's a new Carlin with a hand in managing Massachusetts public colleges. Matt Carlin, a 34-year-old ex-hockey coach and engineering consultant, is Cellucci's newest appointee to the state Board of Higher Education - a panel that cut a much higher profile in recent years under its pugnacious former chairman - and Carlin's father - Jim Carlin.
Carlin pere ran the board like a coach who wore his championship dreams on his sleeve: Giving blunt orders and devising new plays to raise the visibility of public colleges. The younger Carlin will head a committee working to improve the quality of life on campuses.
State senator makes like Regis, but doesn't give out millions
Senator Richard T. Moore, who ordinarily blends into the unflashy dark-suit-white shirt-crowd on Beacon Hill, was sporting different duds last week. Moore, the Democrat from Uxbridge, appeared in full Regis Philbin-wear, with dark shirt and matching dark tie, to host ''Who Wants to be a Beacon Hillionaire,'' a takeoff of the prime-time TV show.
Created by Moore's summer interns, Christopher and Timothy Hoppe, twin brothers from Milford, the game included questions like ''In what year did the first Puritans under the leadership of John Winthrop land in what is now Salem?'' and ''What is the official state bug of Massachusetts?'' (The correct and final answers were 1630 and ladybug.)
But alas, despite some stellar performances, no one left with a big check. The prize for the student from Nipmuc Regional Middle High School in Upton who answered the most questions was to be called ''governor'' for a few minutes.
Globe Staffers Frank Phillips, Tina Cassidy, Brian C. Mooney, Joanna Weiss, Patrick Healy, and Globe correspondent Regina Montague contributed to this report.
