When Michael Dukakis ran for president in 1988, he said the election was about `` competency, not ideology.''

U.S. Rep. James McGovern seems to be making a similar argument in his re-election campaign against anti-gay marriage crusader Ron Crews.

McGovern, D-Worcester, formally kicked-off his campaign with a series of events around the 3rd Congressional District this week.

The locations of his announcements were chosen to emphasize his effectiveness in Congress.

He spoke at a new police station in North Attleboro, where he got $500,000 in federal funding for communications equipment. In Fall River, he made an appearance at Kennedy Park, which has benefited from his federal grants. The park is close to a hospital that got a new emergency room with federal aid. Federal grants for brownfield cleanups and housing were the subjects in Worcester. One of the strategies of the McGovern campaign is to show he has been a congressman who delivers for his district. McGovern wants to contrast his record on meat and potato issues with Crews' affiliation with hot-button social issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

The congressman should remember, however, that Dukakis lost badly to George Bush because Bush painted him as an out-of-touch liberal -- just as Crews wants to do to McGovern.

McGovern in `My Life'

McGovern is mentioned twice in President Bill Clinton's new book, `` My Life.''

The first mention is in connection with an appearance in Worcester Clinton made just after he admitted his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The second is in regard to McGovern's support for an anti-hunger initiative.

No confession

President George W. Bush must not have very much influence over his own staff.

Months ago, Bush asked that the people in the administration who illegally leaked the name of a covert CIA employee to columnist Robert Novak to come forward and confess.

So far no one has.

More on school spending The Attleboro City Council has been making the case that city schools are well funded compared to others in the area, and are only slightly below the state average for spending.

But the council has been using a category of spending called `` regular day'' to make the comparisons.

That category excludes the costs of programs like special education and vocational education.

The Attleboro numbers the council is using do not account for the lack of speech therapists in the city system, the shortage of special education programs and staff, or the World War II surplus equipment in the vocational machine shop that the schools cannot afford to replace.

When all school spending is included in the numbers, Attleboro falls far below the state average.

What school chiefs make

The salaries of local school superintendents have been getting a second look with area communities struggling with budget problems.

But, as generous as the local salaries and benefits are, they pale next to what other areas of the state are handing out.

Watertown just hired a superintendent for $150,000.

Brockton gave its new superintendent $147,000, a $10,000 tax-sheltered annuity, 30 days' vacation, a buy-back of unused sick days worth $35,000, moving expenses, $7,200 a year for life insurance premiums and $250 a month for `` in-city travel.'' Many companies pay the IRS standard 30 cents a mile for employee travel.

If Brockton were paying that rate, the superintendent would have to drive 833 miles a month within the city to earn $250.

Not bad work if you can get it.

JIM HAND covers politics for The Sun Chronicle and can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.

His column appears on Saturdays.