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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Jim Landers
May 26--WASHINGTON--California is short of electricity and running out of time to find more. So Gov. Gray Davis has declared war on Texas.
"By not doing anything, you're allowing the price-gouging energy companies, many of whom reside in Texas, to get away with murder," Mr. Davis said last week after President Bush refused to support price controls on California electricity.
Mr. Davis has threatened to confiscate the power plants to ensure they aren't shut down to jack up prices. He has talked of massive windfall-profits taxes.
Mr. Bush visits California next week, and a meeting with the governor has been added to his agenda.
Mr. Davis, a Democrat, faces re-election next year. And he is trying to transfer the blame for California's electricity crisis before voters put it on his doorstep, said Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
"Making a case against Texas has several advantages," he said. "There aren't too many Californians who have a warm spot in their hearts toward Texas. And if you make it Bush, it shifts the blame from you to the White...
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