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American Morning
Bush in California: President to Meet With Governor, to Try to Improve Relations With State
Aired May 29, 2001 - 11:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has a full plate on this his first full day in California since he moved into the White House. Mr. Bush arrived in Los Angeles yesterday. He lost California to Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 election by more than 1 million votes. Mr. Bush will meet later today with Governor Gray Davis, to hash out their differences -- and they are considerable -- over resolving California's critical energy problems.
First, the president visits Camp Pendelton, where he will deliver an energy address. We expect that to begin in about an hour.
"Los Angeles Times" political columnist and CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us from Washington now, to talk about Mr. Bush's visit to California.
Ron, good to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning, Daryn.
KAGAN: This is all your worlds converging, Washington and California. You just must be beside yourself over this visit.
BROWNSTEIN: It's really a harmonic convergence.
In fact, something that is for both of the principals involved, for Bush and for Davis, it's really kind a high-stakes game. As you mentioned, Bush lost California substantially, despite a very large investment. He spent between $10 million and $15 million there in 2000 and succeeded in narrowing the Democratic margin all the way from 13 to 12 percentage points, which is not much of a return on investment. And of course, Gray Davis has seen, inevitably, his approval rating sink, with the energy crisis. So both guys have a lot at stake in this.
KAGAN: They do. Let's look at some of the maneuvers here. First of all, can anything be read into President Bush making Gray Davis come to see him, in southern California.
BROWNSTEIN: I think so, sure. I think the president is very conscious that Davis may be positioning himself to use Bush as a foil in 2002. In the last few weeks, Gray Davis has made a lot of complaint about the role the Texas energy companies have played in California's troubles. He's gone out of his way to identify them as Texas energy companies. I don't think that's because he's planning to run a populist campaign against Exxon and Enron in 2002.
KAGAN: No?
BROWNSTEIN: I think what he's planning to do is run against Bush in 2002 and basically make the argument that Bush has not taken the steps that California needs largely because he's beholden to his friends in Texas; they are the ones benefiting from it.
The Davis argument today, Daryn, is very simple: It's that California is doing what it needs to. It's putting more power on line. It's building the power plants that Bush and Vice President Cheney have complained were not built, but they will not be ready for a couple of years, and in the interim, it needs wholesale, some limitations, and some price caps on wholesale electricity prices.
That's what he's going to be asking for. Bush so far has said, adamantly, he doesn't support that.
KAGAN: Stepping aside from politics for just a moment here, Ron, these two men see the situation from a different point of view: One believes in price caps, and one doesn't.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, you have an ideological problem. Bush generally believes in a limited role for federal regulation. As I said, Davis sees a sort of bridge function here, in which Washington can California get to the point where it can meet more of its own power needs itself. The political implication, I think, is that if Bush simply stiff-arms the state -- which he's got to be aware of -- Davis can run as much against him in 2002 and Washington as against whoever it is the Republicans put up against him.
KAGAN: Back on the political point here. Neither man is befitting from this situation. Both are being hurt by the energy crisis.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, in many ways. First of all, inevitably, whenever things go badly, chief executives pay the price. The sense of optimism abut the state in California has really declined, and with it Davis's approval ratings have fallen, making him more vulnerable. The same thing's on the national level. As people feel more squeezed on the cost of gas -- and also, the economy -- that's taking some toll on Bush's approval rating.
The second problem Davis has -- the paradox here -- is that even as the energy crisis has sort of drained his support, it's also drained the money out of the state budget that he could use to either put more into education or for tax cuts. The surplus that would allow him to do some things that could help him build and regain support is now being diminished as well, so he not only has more need for government activities that could help him regain support, he has less capacity to do it -- a little bit of a paradox.
KAGAN: So Bush might want to stick it to California because of Gray Davis's political ambitions and because California did not support him in 2000. But he has to be careful; he needs California, especially in congressional support. He needs a strong Republican base in California.
BROWNSTEIN: Right. You can't write off California. It's simply too big. Not only is it too big, with too many people in Congress, as you mentioned, but also they raised too much money there. One of the reasons why he had to spend so much time and money in California in 2000 even after it was pretty clearly a lost cause is you can't simply write off the state and expect a very considerable donor base to keep writing checks. So I don't think he wants to give the impression that he has written off Californian.
In some ways, the most important message from the president today is probably that old cue card that his father inadvertently read in New Hampshire in 1992: "I care." He's waited a long time to come to California, and simply showing up, maybe, as Woody Allen once said, is 90 percent of life here.
KAGAN: We'll have to stay tuned to see if he shows the love to California.
Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times" and also with us at CNN, thanks for your time.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
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