Your Close-Up, Mr. Davis

The 2000 Democratic National Convention provides Gov. Gray Davis an introduction to the national political scene that is a Hollywood agent’s dream mixed with a political consultant’s fantasy. Davis will be everywhere this week. He delivers a welcoming address to the opening session today. He is mixing some of his favorite activities--golf and fund-raising--and enjoying the star power of the entertainment industry in his role as host governor.

All this may not make Davis an instant political headliner. After all, friends joke that Davis makes Al Gore seem lively. But 20 months into his first term, the 57-year-old Democrat enjoys a job approval rating in the 60% range and already has raised more than $20 million for his 2002 reelection campaign. Davis’ New Democrat agenda, a la Bill Clinton and Al Gore but tougher on crime, fits nicely into California’s political demography.

If Republican George W. Bush does challenge Gore for California’s 54 electoral votes, Davis will be a key figure as chairman of the state campaign. A victory by Gore in November would give Davis considerable clout in the White House. If Gore is out of the picture for some reason in 2004, Davis is certain to be considered a top prospect for that year’s Democratic nomination.

But for now it’s party time in Los Angeles. Consider some of the perks that come to a host governor in the Golden State. Davis today entertains other Democratic governors--he is chairman of their association--at a Sony Pictures luncheon featuring a video of political figures in film. The big California welcome party for all delegates tonight will be held on the back lot of Paramount Studios. On Wednesday, Davis holds a lunch honoring presidential and gubernatorial chiefs of staff on the Warner Bros. set of the popular television series “West Wing,” a drama based on the White House.

Philadelphia offered Republicans Independence Hall, Ben Franklin and George Washington. Davis gives the Democrats Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg and other politically predictable celebs at a big Democratic windup party Thursday night at the Shrine Auditorium, frequent site of the Oscars show.

Davis raised funds for the fall campaign with his own Governor’s Cup golf tournament at the fashionable Riviera Country Club on Sunday and was honorary host at a “Hollywood Gala Salute to President William Jefferson Clinton” at a Brentwood estate Saturday.

The week will not be all party, though it might seem so. Thursday, Davis pushed through the state Legislature a bill establishing the nation’s first official holiday honoring the late farm worker leader Cesar Chavez, and he may sign the bill into law during the convention or perhaps on Friday morning in Los Angeles’ Olvera Street historic district. His message: Republicans talk about racial diversity, Democrats do something about it.

Davis is a politician who never stops working, building alliances, cementing relationships, raising money and leaving nothing to chance, even at parties. What he does in Los Angeles, if all goes well, benefits Al Gore in the coming three months. Not just coincidentally, it could also boost the political stature of Gray Davis.