There is life after recall. Less than four months after becoming the first big-state governor in American history to be recalled by popular vote, former Gov. Gray Davis looks and sounds relaxed, philosophical, perhaps even a bit relieved.

In conversation now, Davis is contemplative, as befits someone who is spending six months going through his official papers, preparing them for planned donation to his alma mater, Stanford University.

"You go through 30 years of your life and you get quite a perspective on things," the former governor told me. "You take a longer view than when you are caught up in the day to day, moment to moment of politics and government."

Despite the nastiness of the recall campaign, Davis passed up several opportunities to criticize his Austrian bodybuilder/Hollywood superstar successor. In fact, he is complimentary.
"I like him," he says of Arnold Schwarzenegger. "He is very smart and works hard and wants to do good things." Davis expresses sympathy for Schwarzenegger's budget predicament.

"You know there are three ways to bring down a deficit. You cut; you borrow; you tax. He is trying two of those ways now, and I think he will work his way through this thing. But it is complicated because the Republicans don't want to tax and the Democrats don't want to cut," he said, noting that he had proposed arguably draconian cuts in his budget a year ago that were dead on arrival in the Legislature. "They didn't like the cuts then, either."

"You remember how they slammed me for my vetoes in my first two years as governor?" he asked, referring to Democratic interest groups pushing spending programs.

If Davis had followed his own advice things may well have gone differently. In 1999, he signaled privately and publicly that he would hold the line on spending, concerned that the windfall revenues from the dotcom boom would not last. Davis' fears were borne out, for those revenues did not last. But the spending overhang did. So why did he agree to expand spending anyway? "I was a Democratic governor," he said.

His longtime political consigliere Garry South is more explicit. "Gray was a governor whose policies were too centrist for the activists and interest groups in the party, and unlike Clinton his personality wasn't pleasing enough to them to move them past the differences. It didn't matter that it didn't add up to a message or that it ended up not adding up, period. We had to do it to have peace." Which ended in defeat.

Davis, however, believes that he would have survived the recall had Schwarzenegger not run. "I don't buy the conventional wisdom about \[former Los Angeles Mayor Richard\] Riordan. I don't think he would have been a good candidate, and without a credible alternative the recall would have gone down."

Riordan had not performed well as a Republican primary candidate in 2002, making himself easy pickings for Team Gray's experienced crew. "But Arnold Schwarzenegger turned out to be credible. Most of all, he is Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Being defeated by a global icon is something Davis can live with. And the two men get on well now, having shared several dinners, teaming up to work together on the Southern California wildfires, and discussing politics and government.

And what of the party he headed for the past half-decade, in which he has been a very high-ranking member for three decades? It certainly seems in disarray now.

In Democratic presidential politics, the former governor likes Sen. John Kerry, who Sharon Davis has endorsed. Davis admires Kerry's knowledge and experience, especially on national security matters, a weakness for Democrats. Insiders had expected a gubernatorial endorsement of the Massachusetts senator, like Davis a decorated Vietnam veteran, but the recall intervened. For its part, Davis' old political team has scattered, with Garry South with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, pollster Paul Maslin with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and spokesman Roger Salazar with North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Told that his old boss, Jerry Brown, had said the Democratic Party needed charismatic leadership to revive in California, Davis grinned and wisecracked, "What, my short-term charisma transplant in 1998 (when he won a 20-point landslide victory) wasn't enough?" The party doesn't so much need charisma, in his view, as it needs "focus and discipline."

"We didn't have enough discipline, and I suppose I didn't supply enough focus. Maybe Arnold can do better with the Legislature."

Will Davis play a role in the party's revival? "You can't say that a party which controls so many statewide offices and both houses of the Legislature is exactly dead, but there is some revival needed. I'll help where I can."

Davis was better received by delegates at the recent state Democratic convention in San Jose now that he is the ex-governor than he was when he was governor. There was a warmth to their reaction to him that was missing when he was riding high.

The Democrats were shellacked because the party became a public representation of excess, corruption, attack-dog campaigns and lack of vision. Gray Davis was the charmless representation of the party; the party's nominee on the replacement ballot, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, its feckless representation. The Legislature was less popular than the state's recalled governor.

While no big scandal was ever pinned on the Davis administration, the coincidence of policy decisions coming down after big contributions were made was not lost on the public, especially with a governor who raised a record $78 million for his re-election. Even when Davis showed vision -- as in his drive for a high-speed rail system -- it was spoiled by, yes, a high-speed rail fund-raiser scheduled shortly after the announcement.

Practicing a politics typified by big money fund-raising, special interest legislation and spending excess, and a relentlessly negative style, the party was set up for a very big fall.

The party's future is unclear -- its would-be gubernatorial candidates squabbled to little effect at its convention, its legislative leaders still seem discombobulated by Schwarzenegger -- and so is Davis' future. He will finish going through his official papers and pursue other opportunities, perhaps merchant banking with his friend Ron Burkel and a foundation dedicated to educational opportunity.

Whatever he does, Davis is a treasure trove of intelligence and knowledge. The pity is he was never quite able to focus that knowledge into popular themes and open himself up more to the public.