Davis Piques Washington’s Curiosity

Gov. Gray Davis will make his first official trip to Washington this weekend as a little-known national curiosity who has nonetheless sparked plenty of bipartisan interest as a new political celebrity.

Folks in Washington have heard about how Davis was the Democratic Party’s brightest star in 1998--scoring a landslide victory after a campaign he modeled on President Clinton’s centrist formula.

That’s about all it takes to start Washington gossiping. “I was at a breakfast this morning and his name popped up,” said Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Sacramento). “There are already rumors about Gray Davis on the [presidential] ticket.”

Davis has dismissed any interest in national office and pledged during his campaign that he would complete his four-year term as governor. But even a longshot rumor about a little-known figure is evidence that Davis has arrived on the national scene.

Clinton invited Davis and his wife, Sharon, to stay overnight at the White House this weekend. And the California governor was asked to appear on talk shows by all of the major television networks.

Davis will be in Washington to attend the winter meeting of the National Governors Assn., and aides said he wants to learn from his counterparts about their experiences with issues such as education.

Davis also plans private meetings with at least three of Clinton’s Cabinet secretaries to lobby for $432 million in federal funds that he needs to balance the state budget he proposed last month.

The governor’s aides concede that chances of securing all of the money are slim. But that’s where Davis appears ready to test his new status.

California received plenty of federal assistance from Clinton when the president ran for reelection. Now Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic Party’s top prospect for the presidential nomination in 2000, has taken a special interest in California and its new governor.

Last month, when a hard freeze damaged much of California’s citrus crop, Davis said he called Gore for help. “Al, this is my first disaster,” Davis said he told Gore. “I know you don’t want to let me down.”

Gore didn’t. This month, the vice president announced that the federal government had approved all of the assistance Davis had requested.

Much of the new interest in Davis comes from pundits wondering whether his unexpectedly lopsided election last year has any lessons for future national campaigns.

Davis has said he pursued the centrist path cleared by Clinton for Democratic candidates. The party is taking note that the California election appears to have reaffirmed a moderate course for the Democratic Party, said Garry South, who was Davis’ campaign manager.

“It seems to me that . . . Democrats across the country are going to have to look a lot like Gray Davis to be competitive,” South said. “And in addition, Republicans are going to have to look a lot less like [former state Atty. Gen.] Dan Lungren,” the conservative GOP nominee whom Davis defeated in November.

Davis’ political success will be an oddity at the governors’ convention. Of the 50 governors, only 17 are Democrats. Other than Davis, none comes from a state larger than Georgia, which has less than a quarter of California’s population.

Davis is expected to discuss his politics and policies on national television Sunday when he appears on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The California Democrat is scheduled to appear with Minnesota’s new independent governor, Jesse Ventura, and New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

When the national media are done, Republicans are planning to take their measure of Davis. In Congress, both parties are keenly interested in how Davis will handle reapportionment for 2002, the redrawing of political districts that is so critical it could swing power of the U.S. House to either party.

Political experts figure that the California reapportionment could shift eight to 12 House seats from one party to another.

With that in mind, members of California’s Republican delegation plan to join their Democratic counterparts for a meeting with Davis on Tuesday. It will be the first bipartisan meeting with a California governor in about four years, officials said.

The governor will appeal to both sides for help with his state budget, Davis aides said. He wants $210 million more in federal Medicaid funding because he contends that the current level is based on population counts from an outdated census.

He also wants $122 million from the same federal waiver that was recently granted to Oregon. That plan expands family planning services to men, women and teenagers among the working poor.

Finally, Davis wants the federal government to pay $273 million of the cost of incarcerating 20,000 illegal immigrants now in California prisons. That would increase the federal share by about $100 million.

But it will be an uphill battle. None of the new federal funds Davis has requested were contained in the budget proposal offered recently by Clinton.

Davis plans to appeal for the money in a private meeting he has scheduled with Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

He also plans to meet with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to discuss California water policy and the fragile state of the federal agreement to purchase the Headwaters redwood forest.

Insiders say the governor’s lobbying effort is likely to pay off at least in part, but he might not get everything he wants.

“I think we can be extremely helpful,” said Rep. Gary Condit (D-Modesto). “Whether we can make everything happen remains to be seen.”