Sharon Davis offers strength, solace to husband's recall battle

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Campaign aides call her "his rock."

Petite and impeccably dressed, with a scrupulous memory for facts and detail, Sharon Davis has long been an effective if underutilized ambassador for her husband, Gov. Gray Davis.

The recall election has turned the 49-year-old first lady into one of his most visible defenders and boosted her role as his source of emotional strength in this darkest hour of his political life.

"She is the governor's closest adviser, and she has been the soul of this campaign for the past two months," said Davis campaign spokesman Peter Ragone.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Sharon Davis said her goal is to acquaint California voters with the Gray Davis she has known for 25 years.

"I read profiles and I don't even recognize the person I'm reading about," she said. "He's genuinely a good guy, a decent hardworking guy who's had some big challenges."

With her dimples and broad smile, Sharon Davis projects a warmth that seems unforced, softening her husband's brittle edges. She spends her days traversing the state and delivering speeches. In the campaign's effort to humanize the governor, his wife is a powerful tool.

"I think she is able to convey a more personable side of Gray and their relationship," said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at University of California, Berkeley. "She's able to articulate a human side of how he feels, being under siege."

A suburban San Diego native, the former Sharon Ryer was a 24-year-old flight attendant when she met her future husband, then the campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

As she remembers it, he arrived late to a flight but managed to stop it and board even after it had taxied to the tarmac. When she jokingly chastised him for delaying the other passengers, he barked his first words to her: "black coffee."

He eventually managed to charm her, and they were married almost five years later.

'Adventures of Capitol Kitty'

Sharon Davis later worked as a public relations executive until her husband was elected governor in 1998. As first lady, she has championed literacy programs and health care for uninsured families, and authored a children's book, "The Adventures of Capitol Kitty." A visible presence in her husband's first gubernatorial campaign, she largely stayed out of the limelight in his 2002 re-election, re-emerging this year as the recall loomed.

She's a savvy political strategist, with a brain full of poll numbers and endorsements, and can also be a clever verbal bomb thrower.

Gray Davis invokes his wife's name frequently on the campaign trail, crediting her with "bringing him back to God." The couple are observant Catholics who attend Mass every weekend.

Sharon Davis says their faith gives her husband the fortitude to face the recall.

While she and her husband haven't discussed what will happen if he loses the recall battle, they are prepared to move on with their lives. The couple, who have no children, enjoy playing golf and renting movies in their free time. A recent rental was the Holocaust-era drama "The Pianist," which Davis said put their problems into perspective.

"About halfway through the movie I said, 'Gray, what we're facing is not bad, you know,"' she said. "Compared to what other people have faced, it's not horrendous."