Sometimes a Kiss Is Just a Kiss, Sometimes It's More
No Gray skies here -- Davis' lucky run started with a smooch
Tim Cavanaugh
Sunday, September 21, 2003

It should have become clear to all that Gov. Gray Davis was impervious to any attack last month, when actress Cybill Shepherd revealed her teenage tryst with the future governor of California -- or more pointedly, when it was revealed that Davis had survived his encounter with that doe-eyed succubus who ruins every man in her path.

Elvis Presley, fresh from his triumphantly televised 1968 return, went on a few dates with the then 19-year-old Shepherd, and from then on, only bloated, pill-popping personal miasma awaited The King. The hot young director Peter Bogdanovich emerged from his Shepherd encounter with a broken marriage and a floundering career. Two former Mr. Shepherds have been consigned to cold storage. Even Travis Bickle, "Taxi Driver's" fictional hero, didn't really descend into madness until Shepherd's "Betsy" character appeared in his life.

But Davis, we learned recently, not only smooched the vibrant Shepherd back in the Pleistocene period, but was pronounced a "good kisser," returned from Vietnam in one piece, went on to a successful political career, overcame an ichthyoid lack of personal charm to take command of the nation's most populous state, and squeaked out a narrow re-election despite being one of the most unpopular incumbents in California history.

How could we not have seen the truth? If Cybill Shepherd couldn't undo Gray Davis, what chance did the voters of California ever stand?