Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992                   TAG: 9203070194
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FOR DUKAKIS, IT'S LIKE BEING `BACK IN THE GAME'

Too bad for him it was four years late.

In 1988, Dukakis was criticized as an emotionless technocrat whose failure to respond to attacks from the Bush campaign led to his defeat in the presidential election. But he made up for lost time in an address to the 1992 Washington & Lee University mock convention.

The former Massachusetts governor couldn't hold back his glee that Bush is now getting a taste of his own medicine from Republican challenger Pat Buchanan.

"Isn't there something deliciously ironic about George Bush complaining about racist ads attacking him? George Bush and Pat Buchanan deserve each other - and come November, we're going to throw them and that entire Republican crowd right out of the White House."

Dukakis took Bush to task for what he said was the truth behind the Gulf War. Dukakis said Bush had encouraged Saddam Hussein's aggression with 10 years of "secret deals" and money to support the Iraqi military machine. The Gulf War would not have been necessary had Bush stood up to Saddam years ago, Dukakis said.

Dukakis also chided Bush for his "read my lips" tax pledge. "They told us to read their lips - while they raised taxes 14 times in 11 years."

Dukakis' speech came on the opening night of the W&L Mock Convention, where students will try to predict the Democratic presidential nominee.

Again, W&L students' record is on the line. In every election since the Korean War, the Mock Convention has correctly chosen the nominee for the party out of power, except in 1972, when it passed over George McGovern and nominated Ted Kennedy.

But the students' task is daunting this year because the campaign for the Democratic nomination remains wide open going into next week's "Super Tuesday" primaries.

Mock Convention organizers stayed on the phones late Friday night to get the latest trends and polling data from party activists and political reporters around the nation.

The idea is for each state delegation's votes on the convention floor to reflect what is expected to happen back home. The balloting - which begins today after a keynote address from New York Gov. Mario Cuomo - is expected to stretch over several ballots before a winner emerges.

Dukakis, 58, was supposed to have been the grand marshal in the traditional Mock Convention parade, but he arrived several hours late because Roanoke Regional Airport was fogged in for a good part of the morning.

The crowd along Lexington's historic and self-consciously quaint Main Street had long since dispersed when Dukakis' limousine pulled up in front of a knot of reporters waiting outside the Willson-Walker House.

Dukakis - once described as "emotional as an appliance warranty printed on recyled paper" - got downright enthused at the sight of American flags, Main Street Americana and the press corps, according to Ted Elliott, one of the W&L students who rode with him from Roanoke.

" `This makes me feel like I'm back in the game,' " Elliott quoted Dukakis as saying.

Dukakis stepped out of the limo and, in mock surprise, asked reporters, "What is this? I'm not running for anything."

Indeed, Dukakis' political career ended four years ago - not only because he lost a presidential race that many Democrats thought he should have won, but because his return home was greeted with almost universal scorn from voters who had three times elected him governor. His disapproval rating was hovering near 80 percent when he announced he would not seek a fourth term.

Dukakis has stayed out of politics this year. He said Friday that he already has cast an absentee ballot in the Massachusetts primary, but he would not disclose which of the four candidates he prefers.