<p>Darrell Issa's campaign to recall Gray Davis and replace him as California's governor seemed to come from the blue. Only a few confidants knew the truth.</p>
<p>In mid-April, after the U.S. attack on Iraq, Issa, a junior Republican congressman from the San Diego area, was still a presumed candidate for a 2004 Senate race against Democrat Barbara Boxer. Drawing on his Lebanese roots, he was traveling the Middle East as a post-war diplomat for the Bush administration.</p>