Despite image, Davis called 'good kisser' in younger days

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Gov. Gray Davis could use a big hug, but the San Francisco Chronicle found it hard to find many people willing to give him one.

The Chronicle said it made three calls and two e-mail requests to California's Democratic Party headquarters, three calls to the anti-recall office and two to the governor's Sacramento office, asking them to find someone who loves Gray Davis. Not someone paid to like him, or a major donor, or the head of a politically tied organization someone who simply loves Gray for being Gray.

``Well, I do, and his wife loves him,'' said California Democratic campaign adviser Bob Mulholland.

Suffering in the polls and upstaged by Hollywood, Davis is now seeing his people skills questioned even by his longtime supporters. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said recently that the governor ``has zero personal relationships,'' is cold and distant, and that ``people do not like him.''

That bothered California's first lady, especialy since she said they had been chatting quite amiably with the mayor the night before he made that remark, when Brown pledged to help the anti-recall campaign.

``Geez, sitting there the night before, it seemed like we were all friends. Hel-lo?'' Sharon Davis told the Chronicle. ``But I guess that's politics.''

The Chronicle did find at least one friend who found Davis to be smart, fashionable and ``a good kisser.''

Actress Cybill Shepherd said she and Davis met in Hawaii 36 years ago, when she was a 16-year-old tourist and he 24 and working in a travel agency. He was wearing a decidedly non-tropical blue blazer over a gray T-shirt. She was smitten.

``He was so smart. He always treated me like an intellectual equal,'' she said. They ``made out passionately on the beach,'' and ``were covered with sand, but we were never lovers.''

Now, she feels so upset about the recall election that she feels like holding a press conference.

``He is a wonderful man, and he's served this state well,'' Shepherd said. ``Just because he doesn't speak with the charisma of John Kennedy, people want to recall him.''

Sharon Davis says even in private, Davis is stoic.

``It's cliche, but he's the strong silent type,'' she said. ``He grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and people weren't supposed to show their emotions. He's 60 now. He's not going to change.''

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)