By C.G. Lynch
In 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Ga.
Months later, in the general election against George H.W. Bush, he suffered a defeat. Sixteen years later, with the DNC in Boston, he served the party and the community in a very different capacity, as a political science educator at Northeastern University.
Dukakis’ special DNC class, presidential campaigns and conventions had 40 interns working in dual roles, as students and volunteers.
When John Kerry finished his acceptance speech Thursday night, they began thinking about their 20-page paper (a class requirement), detailing their experience.
“It’s a combination of working the convention and going to class,” said Dukakis. “If you think about kids who want to go into politics, the cross between theory and practice is really the best possible thing you can have.”
At the convention, Dukakis encouraged his students to meet with delegates from their home state. He said they would contribute to the wrap-up Thursday night as officials began restoring the FleetCenter to its normal form.
Though Dukakis had no problem obtaining passes for the class, he said security measures, as a general matter, went overboard.
“They’ve really gone over-the-top with security and it’s a shame,” he said. “What happens is you begin to turn us into a quasi police state. Telling people to stay out of Boston is nuts. We should be showing off this city.”
Andrew Sullivan is a middler political science major taking the class. He said Dukakis has mostly focused on campaign strategy as opposed to policy.
In 1988, Dukakis refused to respond to a GOP attack campaign led by the elder President Bush, a move Dukakis later admitted cost him the election.
“[Dukakis] is not pissed off,” Sullivan said. “He doesn’t really gripe about the past.”
Kevin Thomson, a senior communications major, is also taking Dukakis’ course. He says Dukakis is a “friendly and funny guy,” but he was a little intimated because of the proximity Dukakis had in 1988 to being the next president.
Thomson was an “on-call” volunteer Sunday, Monday and Tuesday during the week of the convention. A lot of the work he did was moving boxes and with general set-up, Thomson said. Other members of the class had more-structured assignments, but due to the volume of volunteers he was less involved, he said.
This election is important to Thomson because of the issue of the war with Iraq. He lost a friend, Felix del Greco, also a student at Northeastern, in combat on April 9.
“Felix and I constantly talked politics, we always talked,” Thomson said. “I would vote, he would vote – it was the way we were. It was probably why we were friends.”
Thomson said del Greco even had ambitions since high school to run for president of the United States. Thomson’s friend had voted for President George W. Bush in 2000, but watched some of the 2003 primaries before he was sent to Iraq. Thomson said del Greco had “a lot of respect for John Edwards.”
Thomson has decided to write his final paper for Dukakis’ course on the Electoral College.
– News staff writer Lauren Rouleau contributed to this report.
