Fascinating. All the reports from right and left pundits made clear, at the time, that it was Governor Wilson’s strong stances on Prop 187 (halting benes to illegals) and 209 (which of course the left MSM painted as his being a “racist”) which brought Gray Davis into office.
All of the reports, eh? You have them "all" in a box somewhere? Well I was working in Sacramento at the time on campaigns with Republican consultants and reporters and pundits and no conservative ever suggested any such thing.
Davis won because there had been no strong Republican leader for voters to identify with in several election cycles and Dan Lungren was a lousy candidate.
Maybe you should look through that collection of yours again that contains "all" the pundits' opinions from that period.