Gray Davis had strong approval ratings when he began his tenure as California's governor.
Joseph Graham `` Gray '' Davis , Jr. ( born December 26 , 1942 ) is a retired American politician and attorney who served as the 37th Governor of California from 1999 to 2003 . Davis began his tenure as governor with strong approval ratings , but those ratings declined as voters blamed Davis for the California electricity crisis and the California budget crisis that followed the bursting of the dot-com bubble .