Davis Leads Democrats to the Top, While the GOP Licks Its Wounds
Crowning the Jesse Unruh State Building, across the street from the Capitol in Sacramento, an inscription declares: "Bring Me Men to Match My Mountains."</br></br>Well, the men who have led California may not always have echoed the inspiring majesty of the Sierras or the rugged power of the Tehachapis. But like it or not, the governors of modern California have been almost perfectly matched to their times. The thoughtful Pat Brown, elected in 1958, earnestly believed in an expansive future, devoting himself to the transportation and education systems that would undergird the California economy. When things seemed to be moving too fast and too far, voters in 1966 replaced Mr. Brown with Ronald Reagan, who promised a return to the homespun values he made famous in his black-and-white movies. His successor in 1974, Jerry Brown, seemed to embody the ambiguity of the '70s, simultaneously preaching lowered expectations and iconoclastic -- some thought reckless -- innovation. Straight-arrow George Deukmejian saw California through the conformist 1980s, while ex-Marine Pete Wilson marched the state past recession and retrenchment in the early '90s.</br></br>So what does the landslide election of Gray Davis -- by any account, California's big winner of 1998 -- tell us about our own time? After all, Mr. Davis seems best defined by what he lacks in comparison to his predecessors -- that is, the vision of the elder Mr. Brown, the charisma of Mr. Reagan, the audacity of Mr. Brown Jr., the certitude of Mr. Deukmejian, the pugnacity of Mr. Wilson.</br></br>But for all the talk of how apt Mr. Davis's first name is, the new governor does seem to personify the cautious optimism with which California looks to the next millennium. Great calamities have befallen the state in the not-so-distant past, but the resolute way Californians rebuilt after earthquake and riot and recession proved that fundamental strengths remained to be -- and, indeed, should be -- tapped. To the steady Mr. Davis falls the task of harnessing those strengths -- without exhausting them.</br></br>Of course, for every winner, there is a loser. For this year, on the flip side of Mr. Davis's victory was the California Republican Party, which lost not only the governor's office, but also the statewide posts of attorney general and treasurer, seats in both houses of the Legislature and the campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. This doubtless leaves the state GOP feeling confused and out-of-touch -- as the Democrats once did.