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Not that Davis is without resources. He is paying former Al Gore strategists Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane $30,000 a month of taxpayer money to handle the p.r. crisis inside the energy crisis. That's despite the fact that Fabiani and Lehane--known as "masters of disaster" for their work at the White House during the Clinton scandals--are consultants to Southern California Edison, a utility at the eye of the storm.
California is only part of the G.O.P.'s energy problem. Bush's plan to boost production nationally is in trouble. In mid-April, internal House polls showed the Republicans 3 points behind the Democrats on the question of which party could be trusted more on energy issues. Two weeks ago, they'd fallen to 15 points behind. Republicans fear that will only get worse as Lieberman and two other committee chairmen convene hearings on Bush's energy policies--and his friends in the industry. Both state and federal authorities are probing allegations of market manipulation by a variety of power generators and pipeline operators.
Even if federal regulators take some of the sting out of California's energy prices, tight supplies and high temperatures will ensure that sporadic blackouts continue. It's hard to tell who will have the hotter summer--Californians, their Governor, energy executives or George W. Bush.
--With reporting by John F. Dickerson, Michael Duffy and Adam Zagorin/Washington