For State Rep. Mark Roosevelt '78 (D-Beacon Hill), the campaign for governor didn't just begin this year with the declaration of his candidacy.

In fact, Roosevelt has been running for governor his entire life.

Whether as a Harvard undergraduate or a state legislator, Roosevelt has painstakingly amassed a record that places him squarely in the political center of this year's gubernatorial race.

He has passed five major bills in the State House since his graduation from Harvard Law School. He has run three major campaigns--two while still enrolled as a Harvard undergraduate.

And even in high school the great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt Class of 1880, had a reputation for political ambition.

"He'd read every biography of Teddy Roosevelt there was," recalls his college roommate and St. Albans' School classmate Andrew S. Lynn '78. "He very early on knew he wanted to be a public servant."

That ambition is what has led the candidate to run for governor--at the politically tender age of 38--on a centrist platform designed to appeal to the same voters who elected Republican Gov. William F. Weld '66 in 1990.

Like his main Democratic opponent, State Sen. Michael J. Barrett '70 (D-Cambridge), Roosevelt cities the economy as the race's most important issue.

A "no new taxes" Democrat, Roosevelt faults Weld for an apathetic approach to Massachusetts job creation, citing the state's 350,000 lost jobs as evidence of ineffective leadership.

"Weld's rhetoric on... economic development has been fine," Roosevelt says "It's his performance that has been lacking."

Roosevelt's plan for the economy includes increasing job training programs, offering tax credits to companies that create new full time jobs and establishing regional economic development offices.

And Roosevelt says his other pet issue, education, is intimately linked with his vision for the state economy.

"All children deserve a chance to make the most of their potential," Roosevelt said when he announced his candidacy in March. "Our greatest attraction to business is our work force. so I will make sure we have the best schools in America."

The chair of the House Committee on Education, Arts and Humanities Roosevelt recently authored the Education Reform Act, Which the legislature passed. It provides $1.3 billion in additional state funding to public schools in addition to setting statewide testing, curriculum and graduation standards.

The education bill is the fifth in a series of legislative accomplishments for Roosevelt. In 1992, he authored the Massachusetts Hunger Act, and his Gay and Les-bian Civil Rights Bill was acclaimed as ground-breaking in anti-discrimination policy in 1989.