SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Gray Davis acknowledged Tuesday that he has made mistakes in his 4 1/2 years in office and admitted his personality is not the warmest, but he blamed the recall election he faces on out-of-work Republican political consultants.

Speaking to a town hall meeting organized by KPIX-TV and the San Francisco Chronicle, Davis also suggested that Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger lacks the experience to handle crucial and complex issues.

"If I got on a plane and the pilot said, 'Well, I have no idea where we are going, but I'm a great leader,' some of us might get off," Davis told the audience of about 100 Bay Area residents, assembled in KPIX's studio.

Although state law only requires a gubernatorial candidate to be a resident and at least 18 years old, Davis added, "most people expect a little more."

The town hall meeting, to be aired tonight in the Bay Area, is part of an effort by Davis during the short recall campaign period to publicly express his views and absorb criticism directly from voters in a way he largely avoided during his first term.

And polite criticism is what he got Tuesday night. A number of questioners suggested he had failed to lead when the energy crisis struck three years ago and when the state's budget began a free-fall into a huge deficit.

"Is it not the responsibility of the governor to lead the Legislature, to save for a rainy day?" asked Gregory Heibel.

Davis, a Democrat who early in his first term was quoted as saying lawmakers should follow his vision, replied that the governor does have that responsibility. He noted that he had cut $9.4 billion from the current budget that was produced by a Democrat-controlled Legislature.

"Blame me," Davis said. "Put it all on me, because I am the captain of the ship." But he quickly added no one could have foreseen the beating the economy of California and the nation have taken the last two years.

And he rebutted charges by recall sponsors that he "lied" about the state's budget problems.

"You can't lie about a deficit. Where do you put a deficit -- in a drawer?" Davis asked, drawing applause.

On the energy crisis, Davis noted that federal regulators have since laid some of the blame for the shortages on private power generators and brokers. And he said he refused to follow the counsel of some to order hefty raises in electricity rates.

"I have plenty of regrets, but leadership is being positive and optimistic," he added.

Davis also was asked whether his lukewarm personality, a circumstance that even his political allies acknowledge, plays any role in the animus some Californians hold for him.

"If you're asking if I'm Bill Clinton, no, I'm not," Davis said, noting that his upbringing in the 1950s taught him not to display emotions.

While Davis appeared comfortable and, at times, chatty, he expressed some resentment in discussing how the Oct. 7 recall election came to be. He asserted that Republican political operatives were already discussing a recall only one month after he won re-election last November.

"This is a bunch of Republican consultants with nothing to do in 2003," he said. "So they ginned this thing up."

Asked if voters were duped into signing recall petitions, he said, "They have a right to have an election, and I have a right to encourage you to vote no."

The governor also said he would announce how he would vote on his potential successor about 10 days before the election. As he has done in recent days, he called Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot, a "good and decent man." The two men, however, have had mostly frosty relations the last five years.