. . . But Will the Democrats Steer Him Too Far Left?

Even before the past year of Lewinsky, Bill Clinton’s habit of pairing political success with personal excess had become tiresome to Democratic Party loyalists. So if party activists could have created the perfect politician for themselves out of whole cloth, they might very well have constructed a candidate possessing Clinton’s considerable political skills but without his equally considerable penchant for scandal.

In other words, they would have created Gray Davis. But as it turned out, they didn’t need to. Because Davis, who had worked for years to create himself in Clinton’s nouveau-centrist political image, ran his campaign for governor of California according to an almost perfectly precise Clintonian blueprint.

Davis steered to the center on crime, taxes and job creation, successfully blurring the differences between the two parties on these traditionally Republican issues. He was then able to portray his opponent as out-of-touch with the voters on a secondary array of issues such as abortion, gun control and the environment. Though Davis’ campaign lacked the sideshows of interns, illegal fund-raisers and grand jury testimony, it was an otherwise credible imitation of the Clinton political playbook.

Davis has indicated that he intends to govern as he campaigned, as a moderate. That may be his intent. But his fellow Democrats--in the Legislature, on the grass roots and among his donor base--have not been waiting since 1982 for caution and centrism. They want action, and they want it now. Listen:

“The first thing we have to do is make up for 16 years of abuse and neglect from Republican governors,” said Tom Rankin of the California Labor Federation-AFL-CIO, whose group brought in a sizable portion of the more than $10 million that organized labor raised for Davis’ campaign.

Making up for 16 years of anything, especially “first thing,” may be extremely expensive. State employees want raises and are threatening to picket Davis’ inauguration if they don’t get them. Union leaders already have demanded an increase in the minimum wage, which has been raised twice over the past few years. Government workers want strict limits on the ability of the state to contract with private sector companies, not to mention a variety of popular and necessary education reforms--such as merit pay, alternative credentialing and stricter standards for teachers--that the unions will fight to their dying breath.

Davis’ first treat for labor will be to reinstate overtime pay for those who work more than eight hours in a given day, reversing Gov. Pete Wilson’s decision that workers are entitled to overtime only if they put in more that 40 hours over a full week. For the unions, this is great news. For the parents of young children or others who need more flexibility in their work schedules than the standard 9-to-5 can provide, it is less welcome.

Nobody really knows whether Davis will govern as the moderate that he promised or the liberal that many Republicans fear. But six years ago, when Clinton was elected president, he too promised to govern as a centrist “New Democrat.” Old Democrats in Congress, however, had other ideas, and by the time then-leaders George Mitchell and Tom Foley got through with him, Clinton couldn’t have found the middle ground with a flashlight and a road map.

Clinton raised taxes. He cut defense spending. He pushed a takeover of the nation’s health care apparatus by the federal government. It was only after his party was thoroughly trounced in the 1994 elections that, free from the pressures and demands of a Democratic majority, he worked with Republicans to pass welfare reform, tax cuts and a balanced budget. Clinton then successfully rode these issues to reelection, though his advisors privately admitted that none of these accomplishments would have been possible with a Democratic Congress.

The old-school Democrats who control California’s Legislature provide Davis with a similar challenge. There is a basement room under the state Capitol where thousands of pieces of legislation vetoed by Govs. George Deukmejian and Wilson over the past 16 years have been stored. By the morning after last November’s election, Democratic legislative leaders were on the scene with pitchforks and shovels, moving those bills back upstairs in anticipation of Davis’ signature.

Davis may begin his administration with legitimate intentions to steer a course for California that keeps him close to the political center. But though he is likely to avoid the scandals that have dogged his party’s president, the new governor’s biggest headache may turn out to be his own party.