support, Murphy was the early frontrunner. In July 1989, Murphy led Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti 42% to 18% in a Boston Globe poll. That November, Murphy still led Bellotti, but only by 2%. In January, after Bellotti's first wave of television commercials and the entry of Boston University President John Silber into the race, Murphy fell to 20% to Bellotti's 38% and Silber's 16%. At the 1990 Democratic Convention, Bellotti won the convention endorsement with 51% to Murphy's 40% on the second ballot. Silber received 15.5% on the first ballot, which allowed him to run in the primary. Murphy's campaign appeared to be badly hurt by the public perception that she was close to the unpopular Dukakis and therefore tried to make a break with the Dukakis Administration. Dukakis twice postponed a trade mission to Europe because Murphy hinted at a news conference that she would execute her own economic plan while serving as acting governor. After the incident, Murphy's unfavorable rating rose to 49% in a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll, compared to 38% a month earlier. A week before the primary, Murphy withdrew from the race so that she would not be a spoiler in the race and cost fellow liberal Bellotti the nomination. Bellotti would lose the nomination to Silber 53% to 44%. Corporate career In 1990 Murphy entered the corporate world. She became managing director of the law firm Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer, and corporate director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Shawmut National Banks, Fleet National Bank, Fleet Mortgage Company, and Fleet Credit Card Corporation. Blue Cross recruited her to the position of executive vice president in charge of federal and stage media and civic relations. During the latter job, she founded Blue Cross' HealthCare Policy Institute. Today Murphy is a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, vice chair of the board of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the Citizens Energy Corporation, a director of the Commonwealth Institute, and a trustee of Regis College. She has been awarded 11 honorary degrees and over 100 national, state, and local awards. The WAGE Project Her 2005 book, Getting Even: Why women don't get paid like men and what to do about it was the product of a research effort lasting eight years. In conjunction with the book, Murphy founded The WAGE Project (Women Are Getting Even)