CAMPAIGN ’88 : Just Planely Heartsick

Dukakis has used a 20-year-old Presidential Airlines 737-200 jet since March as a flying command center for himself, his staff and about 50 traveling reporters.

Familiarity apparently breeds contempt.

With only one toilet in the press area, no oven to heat food and a bizarre tendency for condensation to rain off the ceiling, reporters recently began using a new name for their noisy home in the sky: “Sky Pig.”

To add insult to injury, some on board now cheerfully sing new lyrics to “Wild Thing,” a thankfully obscure ‘60s rock song. “Sky Pig,” go the new lyrics. “You make my heart sick . . . .”

On Thursday, even the campaign got into the act. When reporters staggered into the airport in Boston at 5:30 a.m. to board once again, they were handed an unusual daily campaign schedule. Included was a “Sky Pig menu,” featuring “green eggs and ham.”