"Kerry and Dukakis were elected as a team...They think like a team.. They are philosophicalSiamese twins," he said.

Local imagery was everywhere in the Rappaportcampaign. The phrase "It's time to putMassachussetts first," was emblazoned across thetop of his campaign brochure, and he has madesubstantial mention of his support for theCitizens for Limited Taxation and their proposalto roll back Massachusetts taxes to their 1988levels.

Topping it all off was Rappaport's now-infamous"metamorphosis" commercial, in which an especiallyunattractive close-up of Kerry transmogrifies intothe face of the despised Dukakis.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Rappaport's earlysuccesses caught the eye of top WashingtonRepublicans, eager to rid themselves of thebothersome Kerry.

Kerry, along with fellow decorated Vietnam vetSen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), has been a persistentthorn in the side of two consecutive Republicanadministrations. Because of their strong warrecords, both senators have been able to lambastthe Administration's overseas entanglements andremain immune from the charge that they are "soft"on foreign policy.

The Bush Administration never hid its optimismabout the Massachusetts race. Right after theprimary, White House aide Ron Kaufman told theBoston Herald that polling data showed Kerry to be"the weakest Democrat running for re-election inthe country."

"There is no question [Kerry] is beatable,"said Kaufman. "I'm convinced [Rappaport] can win.

At a campaign stop in Burlington, Massachusettslast Thursday, President Bush himself underscoredhis support of Rappaport.

"You look at that Senate, and you canunderstand why I believe we need him," Bush saidof Rappaport.

GIVEN THE GOP'S HIGH HOPES of oustingKerry, it should come as no surprise thatRappaport's campaign strategies have smacked ofguidance from the national level. But thepolitical neophyte's attempts to emulate thebare-knuckles campaign tactics that catapultedBush to victory in 1988 have simply not played inMassachusetts.

Indignant over Kerry's aggressiveness,Rappaport spokesperson Richard Gaines complainedon the night of the primary that "one of his[Kerry's] minions stood up and called Jim a pitbull." Yet since that time, the Concord businessleader has bared his political teeth on manyoccasions, and his aggressiveness has mostlybackfired on him.

For example, Rappaport has lambasted Kerry forconsorting with a Central American terrorist,although Vice President Dan Quayle and Sen.Richard Lugar later testified that they too hadmet with the man, Guillermo Ungo, and he was noterrorist.

Early in the campaign, Rappaport alsoproclaimed that of the 96 bills Kerry hadsubmitted to the U.S. Senate, none were approved.The charge was later discovered to beunsubstantiated, and Rappaport sustained agrilling on this transgression by WBZ-TV'spolitical reporter Martha Bradlee on a televiseddebate a few weeks ago.

Other attacks have done little to raiseRappaport's credibility. For example, he has triedto peg Kerry with being "soft" on Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein for proposing that theinternational community should grant the Arableader some "wiggle room" in negotiating asettlement.

Kerry's statement was surely impolitic at atime when the country was rallying behind thepresident and his "unnegotiable" terms. ButRappaport won no political ground by attacking hisopponent on foreign policy: Kerry, the owner ofthree