Battered on the Road, Dukakis Savors Home Court Advantage

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis posed stiffly in the snow Thursday as the idle reactor buildings of the giant Seabrook nuclear facility shimmered in the distant morning mist across the town’s small fishing harbor.

“It’s good to be home,” said Dukakis, as cameras snapped and whirred away. “It’s good to be back in New Hampshire.”

The picturesque New England scene, five days before the New Hampshire presidential primary, was a testimonial to the words of another seasoned Bay State politician, former House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr.: All politics is local.

After months of campaigning in distant Iowa, and finishing a disappointing third, Dukakis is enjoying the home court advantage now. His Midwestern Democratic rivals are both underdogs and outsiders, and Dukakis is trying to tap familiar bases of support in a state that has known him for more than a decade.

“He speaks the local language,” said Jim Donchess, mayor of Nashua and a prominent supporter. “People here know him well and he knows them. That’s the advantage he has in New Hampshire.”

Blocked Reactor

Dukakis, after all, is widely credited--or blamed by occasional protesters carrying “Nuke the Duke” signs--with blocking the opening of the $5.4-billion, 1,150-megawatt Seabrook reactor by refusing to approve emergency evacuation plans for nearby Massachusetts communities.

Nearly half the campaign’s TV and radio ads now running focus on Seabrook. Dukakis gave a speech on nuclear power and led a press tour through surrounding towns Thursday morning to capitalize on the issue.

Whether voters agree local concerns should influence a presidential race remains to be seen. Dukakis’ comfortable lead in most polls over Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and Illinois Sen. Paul Simon has begun to shrink. Other regional favorite sons--notably Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1980 and Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie in 1972--have watched their campaigns wither and die here.

The point is not lost on Dukakis, who had a one-word answer when asked if his campaign could survive a loss here. “No,” he said.

But Dukakis appears more relaxed closer to home. At a “town meeting” of about 250 well-dressed supporters in the Salem Racquetball Club late Wednesday, he shed his gray suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and joked about riding Boston’s Green Line trolley and the Boston Red Sox’ perennial disasters without getting blank stares in return.

In some ways, Dukakis’ campaign theme--immigrant son, successful governor, a leader who cares and gets things done--is easiest to sell here.

Cross State Border

An estimated 11% of New Hampshire’s residents cross the state border to work, and he is a familiar face on local TV and front pages. As a result, campaign aides say, his much-criticized message in Iowa--that he has led Massachusetts to an economic “miracle,” and can help solve the deficit by beefing up tax collection--is less assailable in his own backyard.

“You’re not going to be able to convince people here that the Massachusetts economy isn’t viable and growing,” said Charlie Baker, his state campaign director. “And people here know tax enforcement worked,” at least in Massachusetts.

He brought living proof to Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Speaking to about 200 students Wednesday, Dukakis was flanked by two campaign icons--Chinese-born computer mogul Dr. An Wang, head of giant Wang Laboratories, which is based in Lowell, Mass., and Dawn Wilson, a former Boston welfare mother who graduated from a state training program and now earns $19,000 a year.

“That’s America,” Dukakis told the applauding students. “That’s what I want to do.”

At another stop in Manchester, Dukakis found local roots for his immigrant past. “My father came to this city 75 years ago,” he said, between bites of feta cheese and black olives in Dimitrios Bakolus’ Greek grocery.

He took a quick tour of the still-ethnic neighborhood of wooden row homes and smoky Greek clubs where his father, the late Dr. Panos Dukakis, lived for several months when he arrived from Turkey in 1912.

“I only wish my dad could be here,” Dukakis said to about 30 supporters crowded in the Barba Costas coffee shop. “He’d be so proud of me. He’d be so proud of you.”

During the Iowa campaign, Dukakis usually returned to Boston for three days each week to tend to state business. This week he returned each afternoon. In 48 hours, he announced an improved state bond rating in Boston, raised public housing goals in North Dorchester, talked to a citizens group in Lawrence, and met local police chiefs in Lowell, a former mill town that has risen from the dead thanks to high-tech industries and innovative state programs.

Makes No Apologies

Dukakis makes no apologies for his double schedule. Asked if he intends to continue functioning as governor if he wins the Democratic presidential nomination, he replied: “Sure.”

Nick Mitropoulos, the governor’s special aide, says the work helps the candidate relax: “It gives him a sense of stability, that he’s not campaigning 100% of the time. It makes him feel calm.”

Dukakis himself says he loves being governor. Being President sounds like fun, he said in Salem. Then he paused. “Almost as much fun as being governor of Massachusetts.”