LYNDON JOHNSON once admonished his White House staff: “I expect a kiss-my-ass-at-high-noon-in-Macy’s-window loyalty.” No one’s going to mistake Gray Davis for LBJ–certainly not after the governor’s address yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles, broadcast live statewide. Davis didn’t demand loyalty, he begged for it in front of a crowd of about 200 loyalists. His wife, Sharon, was there too. She wasn’t wearing a Democratic cloth coat, and her husband didn’t invoke any dog’s name. Still, Davis’s 20 minutes had a “Checkers” feel to it–an angry, Nixonian feel, complete with an enemies list.

“The Republicans behind the recall say they want you to vote me out because of past mistakes,” Davis said. “My friends, they don’t give a rip about past mistakes–they want power for the future, and with so many candidates, they think they can get it with the support of a tiny fraction of California voters.”