The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

Gray Davis 's campaign say that they are hoping they won't have to spend the full $30 million war chest he's accrued over the past two years, in part because he'd like to have a little left over in case an even higher office beckons. /p>

"He has said that he has no interest in running for president," says a Davis staffer in Sacramento. "But you can't be a governor of California who's re-elected and not be thinking in the back of your head that you could go a bit higher. Davis is the kind of guy who's always setting his sights on new goals."

Actually, Davis hasn't categorically denied that he'd seek higher office, but given his low approval ratings in the state, it's inconceivable that he could break a perceived pact with California voters and successfully run. "It isn't the California voters he'd have to worry about at first, " says the staffer. "It's Iowa and New Hampshire that he'd have to worry about, and there are so many candidates right now who have those states staked out that it would be nearly impossible for him to pull it off. More likely, he'd try to get out there and campaign for the party and put himself in a position for a vice presidential bid."

Anyone who watched Davis at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles could see that Davis was trying real hard to look energetic. The normally bland Davis was practically three-dimensional when he took the dais at Staples Center. "He's made his desire for national office known to many in the Democratic Party," says the Davis aide. "His time just hasn't come yet."

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Bill Clinton