Finally, Davis Finds His Stage and Shines -- at Town Hall Meeting

San Francisco

He actually looked tolerable. No, better than that: pleasant. Even interesting. And, once or twice, entertaining.

This was our governor, no less.

Gov. Gray Davis may have found his stage for communicating -- the so-called town hall format perfected by former President Bill Clinton.

Clinton recently urged Davis to do town halls all over California. And the governor did his second Tuesday night, a 90-minute Q&A; with 100 readers of the San Francisco Chronicle. The session was taped to be edited down to an hour and telecast later by the local CBS affiliate.

In truth, Davis always has performed well at news conferences -- after he finally shows up, often 30 minutes late. He’s articulate and his knowledge of detail shines. But, like most politicians, he dreads being quizzed by reporters because they bore in with those annoying follow-up questions. Davis clearly feels more comfortable and in control -- as Clinton did -- when being queried by regular citizens.

Davis strategists hope to book the governor into several town halls before election day, Oct. 7, and intend to have him answering lots of questions from all types of audiences.

The San Francisco show was 180 degrees from Davis’ awkward, widely televised performance before a labor crowd at UCLA one week before. That speech lacked contrition, but worse, there was a disconnect between verbal and body language. The fiery words were out of sync with the plastic grins.

This time, Davis smiled easily and managed to sound earnest while not overly defensive. He expressed himself naturally with hand chops and finger jabs, but didn’t go to extremes with orchestra conductor motions.

He should have been doing this months ago -- indeed, all last year while running for reelection. Instead, most of his public appearances were hackneyed photo-ops, often with cops or politicians standing in tow.

Here, he talked proudly of his record -- on improving schools, protecting the environment, enacting tough gun controls -- and tried to explain his handling of the energy and budget crises.

It’s what Californians should have heard repeatedly during his 2002 race, especially in TV ads. His job approval rating would not have tanked so badly, setting himself up for a recall. Davis felt voters wouldn’t believe him because his credibility was shot.

Now it may be too late, but making himself more presentable to the public -- Democrats particularly -- is a must if he’s to have any hope.

Davis must bring Democrats home. For him to survive, the party’s voters have to conclude that they dislike the prospect of a Republican governor even more than they dislike Davis.

When Democrats are united, they’re practically unbeatable in California because they’ve got the numbers: 44% of the registered voters, compared with 35% for Republicans and nearly 16% for declined to state.

Davis was tossed a lifeline last weekend by the Times Poll, which showed the recall being favored by only a 5% margin, 50% to 45%. Other polls have found significantly more support for ousting Davis. What I found especially interesting about the survey, however, was that it provided a template for Davis’ survival. Democrats were coalescing. The electorate was being polarized into two distinctive party camps.

On several questions, most Democrats responded with the party line. Indeed, 76% opposed the recall; 15% favored it. Among Republicans, it was 83% favor, 14% oppose.

Question: Is this “an attempt by Republicans to overturn an election they lost in November?” Democrats 76% yes, Republicans 84% no.

Arnold Schwarzenegger surely is helping to unite Democrats -- an “outsider” surrounding himself with consummate Republican insiders (George P. Shultz, Pete Wilson and the old Wilson brigade) while trying to coerce rival GOP candidates out of the race and moving to the right to outflank conservatives.

Speaking to a largely Democratic Bay Area TV audience, Davis fired this shot Tuesday night at Schwarzenegger: “The Constitution says you have to be a certain age and a resident of California and you can run for governor. Most people expect a little more.”

Davis pounded on the power grab theme and the unfairness of a recall attempt, only a few months after his reelection:

“If there are mistakes that I made, they were largely made in my first term.... I did nothing after the election but get ready for my inauguration, and they were already planning a recall. There were a bunch of Republican consultants with nothing to do, and they ginned this up.”

He added, to unaccustomed laughter: “They say I lied about the budget. You can’t lie about a deficit. Where do you put a deficit? In a drawer? All the information on public financing is open to the public.”

Davis should spend every evening in a town hall, and not just in friendly San Francisco. He has a lot of wasted time to make up.