The October recall of Gray Davis has created a void at the top of the California Democratic Party without any immediate prospects for a statewide leader able to counterbalance Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, many Democrats say.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the most senior statewide Democrat, has long preferred to focus on policy initiatives in the nation's capital rather than immerse herself in party matters.

The strongest political voice for Democrats in the Legislature is state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, who because of term limits is leaving office at the end of the year.

And while Democrats hold all of California's statewide constitutional offices aside from governor - including attorney general, lieutenant governor and treasurer - none has emerged as a leader who by sheer authority of stature, presence and raw political power can speak for the party as a whole.

"At the moment, there is only one voice that reaches the public on a wide range of state issues, and that voice has an Austrian accent," said John J. Pitney, a government professor at Claremont-McKenna College.

While Feinstein is the top prospect for the job, her colleagues note that the senator is as likely to speak out publicly in bipartisan fashion as to delineate Democratic principles and positions.

Others say Washington is too far away from California for her or any federal elected official to be very effective as the state party's top dog.

"After going through the recall, there really does appear to be a vacuum in terms of who is the go-to person in the state," said Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento.

"It could very well be that no Democrat can emerge right now," he said. "The only one I could think of that could is Dianne. But putting her aside because of her role back here in Washington, I don't know if there is a consensus right now."

Feinstein bristles at the suggestion the party is leaderless in California with her now as its senior elected official.

"I may be the senior elected Democrat," she said. "But that doesn't entitle me to run everybody's lives. But I am certainly trying to take the initiative from time to time and to do what I can. And I've kind of set my own agenda on what I can do to help."

She is not alone in that view.

California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres said he sees no weakening at the top of the party, and insisted it is well poised for the November elections to re-elect Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and deliver California's electoral votes for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

State Controller Steve Westly, a moderate who campaigned with Feinstein and Schwarzenegger for passage of the GOP governor's debt-refinancing bond measure, said Feinstein's bipartisanship is part of what makes her so effective as the party's de facto leader.

"She's doing a great job," said Westly, who is considering a run for governor in 2006. "She has a lot of influence. She is tough, moderate and smart. Others of us are working more frequently with her to expand that leadership."

Even setting aside the debate over whether cooperation trumps confrontation in post-recall state politics, others aren't sure Feinstein is effectively leading the party from Washington.

"Her profile is up," said Bruce Cain, head of the University of California's Institute for Government Studies. "But I'm not seeing her taking control of the Democrats or taking advantage of her senior status. It's fair to say that Nancy Pelosi is the closest thing to a leader for the Democratic Party in the state."

But Pelosi, though a commanding partisan and masterful fund-raiser, has an around-the-clock job in Washington as a leading national spokeswoman and House Democratic leader.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the most outspoken Democratic critic of Schwarzenegger who already has opened a gubernatorial campaign office for 2006, said he thinks this is a critical period of rebuilding for the party.

"I absolutely intend to play a role in this," he said. "I am going to offer Democrats an alternative voice to Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda, which is antithetical to the best Democratic values. ... Democrats are waiting to be led in an alternative direction."

Many Democrats look to the recall itself as the best evidence that Democrats lack a powerful leader. It took weeks of costly dithering before the party decided to rally around Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante rather than place all its faith in voters rejecting the recall.

Many believe part of the problem is term limits. Because legislators are limited in how long they can serve, there is little opportunity for strong leaders to emerge and establish themselves, thus making it virtually impossible for the emergence of powerhouses like Willie Brown, the former Assembly speaker and San Francisco mayor.

The problem is complicated by the fact that Democrats are the state's dominant power in the Legislature and congressional delegation while the Republicans control all of Washington and, since November, the Governor's Office.

Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book, which analyzes legislative and congressional races, said the fact that Democrats are feeling a post-recall vacuum at the top is no surprise.

"The out party takes a couple of years to get its moorings back," Quinn said. "Out-of-power parties have a hard time coming up with a leader."

Democratic political consultant Bill Carrick agrees.

"When we have a Republican governor, you tend to have less of a (Democratic) personality leader and more of a back-and-forth, open-ended approach with people rising to the occasion on certain issues," he said.

"Until we have a candidate for governor, and then hopefully a governor, I don't think you are going to see a dominant leader who is going to be a power broker," Carrick said. "That's not how California works."

In the meantime, Democrats seem divided on how to approach basic political questions.

Early on, for example, Angelides sought to establish himself as the anti-Schwarzenegger by opposing the governor's March ballot measure to refinance state debt. Feinstein and Westly campaigned with Schwarzenegger for the measure, which passed easily.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer, also a probable gubernatorial hopeful, was not a player in the campaign and is still mending fences within the party for his admission that he voted for Schwarzenegger.

Feinstein's advocacy for the governor drew complaints among some Democrats in the state's congressional delegation, sources said, and probably weakened any expectation that she would be a strong force for redefining the post-recall party.

In an interview, Feinstein said that work in the Senate is no less demanding since the recall election, especially on intelligence matters, and that her efforts for the state party have been more fundamental and subterranean.

She pointed to a November meeting in San Francisco she scheduled with top state Democratic leaders to talk about revamping the party's Web site, beefing up its e-mail capabilities and capacity to quickly organize electronic news conferences.

A major part of this effort also would focus on better targeting absentee voters, a growing issue because more and more Californians are registering as permanent absentees so they can vote by mail.

"I laid out what I thought," she said. "We will have a second meeting to discuss progress we've made on the infrastructure of the party and its ability to press our case in a growing electronic society."

Feinstein also said she has agreed to serve as chairwoman of Boxer's re-election committee, noting that "I will do everything that I can possibly do to see that she is re-elected."

In a recent telephone press conference for Kerry's presidential campaign, Feinstein joined the attack on President Bush's energy policies, which she said are leading to record-high gasoline prices.

Limited by new federal campaign finance laws on how much money she can raise for the state party, Feinstein said she is focused on the infrastructure improvements that will help Democrats get elected.

"Do I intend to stake out an office and say, 'I'm the party leader?' " Feinstein asked. "No. I am here (in Washington). People know where I am."

The absence of dominant party leadership also has opened doors to new entrants. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, is taking an increasingly active role as head of the state's Democratic House delegation, and recently organized a telephone press conference for Democrats to complain about the financial pain a House budget passed over their objections will mean for the state.

"I'm trying to be helpful," she said. "It's a matter of getting organized when we can make a difference."

Lofgren said California Democrats now do not have "any one person" in charge.

"There are a number of people who are going to work increasingly as a team," she said. "The recall experience was a searing one for the delegation. There was a sense that things were better organized than they turned out to be."