there that Gearan met his future wife, Mary Herlihy, a fellow staffer in Drinan's office. Gearan worked as a newspaper reporter for the Fitchburg, Massachusetts Sentinel and Enterprise for one year. After leaving the newspaper, Gearan was chief of staff for U.S. Representative Berkley Bedell of Iowa for three years. In 1983, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis appointed Gearan Director of Federal-State Relations for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a post he held until 1988 when Gearan joined Dukakis' campaign for the Presidency. 1988 Presidential campaign When Dukakis ran for the presidency in 1988, Gearan originally had the high-profile job of managing Dukakis' campaign during the crucial Iowa caucuses. When Gary Hart dropped out of the race, the Dukakis campaign replaced Gearan with Hart's Iowa coordinator and sent Gearan back to Boston to be the campaign's national headquarters Press Secretary. Although Gearan was disappointed by the decision, he accepted it. "You know, it's a long life, and there aren't too many other things in politics but loyalty," he said when asked about the incident. When Bush announced on August 17, 1988 that he was selecting Dan Quayle as his running mate after previously saying he planned to keep his choice secret until later during the convention, Gearan had one of the sharpest comments. "We learned something about George Bush today. He can't keep a secret," said Gearan. "and he can't stand up to the pressure of the right wing." As Dukakis' Press spokesman, Gearan was frustrated by Republican negative campaigning and supported Dukakis' decision to respond. "There comes a time when you respond," said Gearan. "The dogs days of August are over." Gearan added that Bush had falsely accused Dukakis of opposing the Stealth bomber and the D-5, a nuclear missile used on the Trident submarine. After the election Gearan said that one of the mistakes Dukakis made after winning the Democratic nomination was not re-introducing himself to the American people. "One of the big mistakes we made in 1988 was we assumed people knew who Michael Dukakis was," said Gearan. After Dukakis' defeat, Mr. Gearan returned to run the Massachusetts Office of Federal Relations until 1989. Gearan was Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association from 1989 to 1992. As executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, Gearan offered George Bush a slogan for his 1992 re-election campaign with a double-entendre: "Bush in '92. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." 1992 Presidential