It was 1988, and Michael Dukakis could have been president.

The brainy governor of a rebounded Rust Belt state, a man "who appealed to the best instincts of the American people'' and a candidate with a photogenic wife, he was still defeated -- in large part by a TV ad from his opponent.

So the former Massachusetts governor could speak from experience when he said -- as he did to Lancaster County Democrats on Friday -- to expect the big Republican guns to start firing on the Democratic presidential nominee next year.

So whether it's John Kerry or Howard Dean or someone else, "the attacks will begin.''

And winning in 2004 will only come by being ready, Dukakis said, and by "taking the important bread-and-butter issues to the vast majority of Americans who are getting little or no benefit from ... a rich man's government'' now under Republican President Bush.

Dukakis was the keynote speaker at Friday's Lancaster County Democratic fall banquet, speaking at the Eden Resort Inn & Conference Center before 175 people, possibly the banquet's largest crowd yet.

Getting the one-time presidential nominee was quite a coup for Democrats in this largely Republican county, and their leaders said today it's just one sign that things are looking up for the party both here and nationally.

As Dukakis pointed out, then-Vice President Al Gore won Pennsylvania in losing to Bush in 2000, and Democrat Ed Rendell last year became governor.

So Democrats can do it, he exhorted the local troops, by "doing what you're doing, and get back to the grass-roots level, and putting a face on American politics.''

In his half-hour talk Friday, he touched on a wide range of issues -- what he called President Bush's "utterly incomprehensible'' foreign policy, the need for a good high-speed rail system in the United States, and health care.

Plus, why the Red Sox stayed with Pedro too long.

For you non-baseball fans, that reference from Dukakis, a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, was to the latest heartbreaking loss the team (and star pitcher Pedro Martinez) suffered Thursday to the hated New York Yankees.

Bruce Beardsley, the Lancaster County Democratic chairman -- and a Yankees fan -- said today having Dukakis here and Friday's "very good, very enthusiastic crowd'' are just two encouraging signs for the party.

Beardsley said county Democrats have had 80 new contributors in just the last two months: "I think what it means is that people are disappointed and upset with the Bush administration, and they want to do something.''

That was the theme echoed by Dukakis -- who criticized the president for conducting a foreign policy without the help of other nations, and claimed he's running a government too much for the benefit of rich people.

Having won the Democratic nomination back in 1988, Dukakis was in the lead versus then-Vice President George Bush, the father of the current president.

Dukakis then ran into Bush's "Willie Horton'' TV ads, which turned the presidential race upside down by raising concerns among voters that Dukakis was soft on crime.

Democrats said the ads were cheap shots and played on white voters' racial fears. Republicans said they raised legitimate concerns that Dukakis was a liberal who was too soft on crime.

Dukakis also lost ground when, hoping to look tough to voters, he was photographed in a tank. The move backfired when it only made him look silly.

No one asked him about the tank Friday, but they did ask, "Where's Kitty?''

His wife and he had come down to the Keystone State so Kitty Dukakis "go reunioning,'' as the former governor put it, with friends in State College -- she's a Penn State graduate.

In his appearance Friday, Dukakis looked barely a day older than in 1988, but in fact he turns 70 in two weeks.

In the 2004 presidential race, Dukakis is supporting fellow Bay Stater John Kerry, the senator who also served as lieutenant governor under Gov. Dukakis.

"I have a bias,'' Dukakis said, but called Kerry "someone who's absolutely solid on the issues of foreign policy and national security, because they're going to be absolutely critical.''

Dukakis was introduced Friday by his friend, veteran area Democrat John Pittenger, who was a few years ahead of Dukakis at Harvard Law School.

Dukakis back in 1988 "conducted a campaign based on the best instincts of the American people,'' Pittenger said, but "he was defeated by a man who appealed to their worst.''

Along with the 175 people who attended the $50-per person dinner, another 30 came to a private $150-a-person reception beforehand with the former presidential nominee, Beardsley added.


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