HOUSTON--Massachusetts alternate John Harris remembers 1986 all too well. And it's not the Red Sox flop that makes him shudder.

Harris, now a member of the Governor's Council, says he ran for the same post in that year and "went down with so many other Republican candidates" in a Dukakis landslide.

"That was definitely a tough time to be a Republican, but it also served as the birth of a new party in Massachusetts," said Harris, an Andover resident. "We started localizing at the city level, and everybody saw what happened four years later--a revolution.

In 1990, William F. Weld '66 became the state's first Republican governor in 20 years. A large number of seats in the Massachusetts legislature were turned over to the Republican Party. And Harris won his election--the first time in 30 years a Republican has held his post.

Republican politicians and citizens who have journeyed here from Massachusetts, including Harris, say the recent climb in Republican influence in the Commonwealth has rejuvenated their political spirits. Not only do most of them say it's much easier to be a Republican in Massachusetts these days, but they describe it as "fun."

State Sen. Richard Tisei, a delegate from Wakefield who served in the House served in the House from 1984 to 1990 before moving to the Senate, says that the sparse number of Republican elected officials used to make things very tough for him in the legislature.

"Times were tough when I was elected in 1984. I was the only Republican within [Greater "Boston]," said Tisei, who ran Gov. Weld's campaign in 1990.

"But now, with Governor Weld in office and the turnover in the legislature, it's a good time to be a Republican--the best time in the last 20 years," He says.

And the new attitude extends beyond the elected officials and into the Republicans' private lives, according to Kent Lage, an aide to the delegation from Charlestown.

"It was bit of struggle to be a Republican after the gubernatorial debacle in 1986," Lage says. "But now with Governor Weld in office, we command a great deal more respect."

Some delegates also point out that having a Republican lieutenant governor, Paul A. Cellucci, and a Republican state treasurer, Joseph D. Malone '78, only adds to the comfort from having a Republican governor.

In an interview with The Crimson, Malone said the state's new Republican leadership is making progress in turning around the problems left behind by Democratic rule in the state, and that only produces more support for the Republicans.

"In Massachusetts, given the fact that we have great institutions of higher learning, top medical and research centers and a good geographical location, we just needed to give the people the proper incentive to go the extra mile," Malone said.

"And now we're starting to see that," he said.

While many of the Massachusetts, residents here say that they find it easier to be a Republican in Massachusetts, the feelgood words don't come from across the board.