Gray Davis was a centrist triangulator during the first three years of his governorship, interposing himself as the decisive factor between business and professional groups and an increasingly liberal Legislature.

Davis collected millions of dollars in campaign funds from business executives and tilted their way on issues large and small, from modifying environmental regulations issued by state agencies to vetoing expensive worker benefit bills backed by labor unions and granting corporate tax breaks.

Liberals often fumed, but lacked leverage on Davis -- at least until his passive response to the state's energy crisis in 2001 sent his public approval ratings into a downward spiral. As Davis' popularity tanked, he knew that when he ran for re-election in 2002, he would need active support from the Democratic Party factions he had held at arm's length, such as labor unions, environmentalists, consumer advocates and gay rights activists. But that support, he found, carried a price: doing what he had been unwilling to do in the previous three years.
Davis accepted the trade-off and in 2002 shifted markedly to the left, reversing position on a number of major issues. The shift was signaled early in the year when he signed a multibillion-dollar increase in workers' compensation benefits that he had vetoed three times, and continued with an outpouring of liberal legislation, such as a landmark "global warming" measure.

As it turned out, Davis needed all the help he could get, barely defeating an error-prone Republican challenger, Bill Simon. The same election saw an upsurge in the ranks of liberal legislators with an even broader agenda of bills. The looming question was whether Davis, having won his second term, would slide back to the middle or continue to paddle his political canoe to the left.

It may remain an academic question, because Davis once again finds himself in a political bind, facing the prospect of becoming the only California governor to be recalled -- and his approval ratings are even lower, little more than 20 percent in three major statewide polls. In other words, Davis has an even greater need for political support than he had last year, and it's evident that, once again, he's doing his best to placate and cultivate those interests whose help could be critical.

Those contributing large sums to Davis' recall defense fund, whether individuals or groups, are a who's who of interests that have business pending before the Davis administration. The anti-recall committee is headed, for instance, by California Professional Firefighters, which wants Davis' signature on a new measure giving police and fire unions the right to take contract disputes with local governments to binding arbitration, replacing an earlier law that was invalidated by the courts. The firefighters also have been pressing for the State Building Standards Commission to adopt a fire safety code -- one opposed by most local governments -- that could lead to higher fire station staffing levels.

Davis is going out of his way to cultivate Indian tribes, civil rights groups and others whose money and votes could be critical in a close recall election. He's endorsing, for instance, Indian-backed legislation to give tribes more power over development on lands they consider to be culturally valuable, and opposing a controversial ballot measure that would bar the state from collecting racial and ethnic data.

Liberals know that they have Davis over a political barrel again, since Democratic voter turnout and attitude would be critical in a recall election, and are pushing their agendas, which include such items as expanding the rights of gay "domestic partners" and providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's evident, too, that Davis is doing everything he can to cater to liberal interests on the state budget. He significantly reduced the impact of spending cuts on teacher unions and other groups when he unveiled his revised budget in May, opting for more borrowing to offset spending.

The danger for Davis is that by drifting to the left again, he could alienate conservatives and moderates even more and draw more anti-Davis voters to the polls for a recall. Many Californians are already angry at him for reinstating $4 billion in taxes on cars and might be put off by signatures on expansive gay and immigrant rights bills.