As much as I don't like it, Gray Davis will likely win another four year term this fall, despite anemic job approval numbers.

When Bill Simon won the Republican primary earlier this month, there was a lot of talk about the similarities of the situation Simon finds himself in and that faced by a young and politically inexperienced Ronald Reagan four decades ago.

Simon isn't a Ronald Reagan, but Gray Davis may turn himself into a Pat Brown.

If Gray Davis can keep his cool and demagogue Simon on the abortion issue, then the increasingly left-leaning California electorate will give Davis four more years. But there are indications that Davis may have a self-destruct problem, as evidenced by a recent interview by the San Diego Union-Tribune's editorial board.

But the main criticism is that you panicked and signed long-term contracts at a very high cost.

If I didn't panic, you wouldn't be able to put out your paper. I saved this friggin' paper. I kept the lights on in this state. Do you understand that? I kept the lights on.

This isn't the kind of attitude that will get you re-elected in California. Americans may be sympathetic to victims, but not when they're leading the state.

As to the contention that Gray Davis is responsible for the uninterrupted publication of the Union-Tribune, don't make me laugh. We've got out own power generators -- it may have ended up being a pain in the butt (the bureaus don't have generators), but the paper would get out.

There is one other thing to note, I'm unsure whether this was a political calculation made to try and piggyback on President Bush's heightened popularity or just a sincere statement of fact, but I found it interesting.

President Bush didn't really do anything until his approval rating in California had fallen to 26 percent. Isn't that true?

He appointed (Nora) Brownell and Pat Wood (to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). They helped save our behinds. He may have taken a while to do it, and I think the world of President Clinton but the Clinton administration didn't give us any help. They were just trying to get us to raise rates 300-400 percent and I wasn't going to do that.

Praise from an interesting quarter. But I still don't think Davis and Bush will be exchanging Christmas cards this year.