Republican quips about the state's fiscal crisis preceded the appearance of Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and his wife, Kitty. Bulger defended the embattled governor and alluded to the state's fiscal mess: "It gets me mad when people say the state is in chaos. Chaos--those were the good old days."

Dukakis seemed delighted to deliver wisecracks of his own, even if it was at his expense.

Referring to the Republicans angling for the job he is giving up, the governor said, "compared to those guys, I'm charismatic. I'm the greatest stand-up comic in the world compared to those guys. Don't let it happen.

"You think I've been a little dull."

The breakfast was followed by the city's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, which began at 1 p.m. at the Broadway Red Line MBTA station and looped around South Boston, a stronghold of the city's Irish-Americans.

Under gray skies that threatened rain and put a damp chill into the day that hovered around 50 degrees, a crowd of about 80,000 gathered along the parade route, police estimated.

The weekend's festivities also commemorated the 214th Evacuation Day, the anniversary of British troops being forced out of Boston.