Bush Makes First Visit to California as Dispute over Energy Crisis Builds.

Publication: The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Dallas Morning News

Byline: G. Robert Hillman

May 29--LOS ANGELES--George W. Bush landed in hostile territory Monday evening, beginning his first presidential visit to California amid a pressing energy crisis that he says he cannot ease in the short term.

"We welcome him to California," said Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who has waged a long-distance war with the Republican president over the high cost and short supply of electricity in the nation's most populous state.

"I hope he has an opportunity to talk firsthand to some of the people who are adversely impacted by the very high rates we're paying for electricity."

But the president's carefully scrubbed schedule for the next two days provides little time for such an opportunity, although he will confer privately with business leaders to discuss high-tech solutions to the state's energy problems.

Arriving on a cross-country flight that touched down in Arizona for a Memorial Day tribute, Mr. Bush headed off to prepare for an early-morning stop Tuesday to promote...

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