But whatever Bush and Cheney's intentions, they may have given Davis an enormous political gift by escalating their anti-California rhetoric. The governor was facing rising criticism from the right and left for his handling of the energy mess. Now Californians are increasingly laying the blame for the crisis on Texas.

A new Field Poll shows that Californians place more blame at the feet of out-of-state energy providers -- read: Texas energy companies -- and President Bush for the current crisis than Gov. Davis. But numbers from the Public Policy Institute of California show Davis' approval ratings have dropped to 46 percent from 63 percent in January. Strikingly, Bush's 57 percent approval rating among Californians is higher than Davis', according to the PPIC poll.

Meanwhile, the caricature of the Californian as tree-hugging crybaby is beginning to appear in more and more columns and editorial pages nationwide, but especially in Texas. "California politicians blundered when they devised a deregulation scheme that capped consumer prices but encouraged wholesale prices to soar," the Houston Chronicle editorialized last week. "They have no more right to blame Texas for California's high electricity costs than Texans have a right to ask California to cap the price of movie tickets and video sales and rentals."

But plenty of salvos are being volleyed in the opposite direction. A recent Los Angeles Times editorial slammed the president's energy plan. "Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney are Texas oil patch veterans, which may explain, if not excuse, their backward-thinking energy policy ideas," the staff editorial railed.

Columnist Richard Rodriguez called for a virtual cease-fire last week, claiming that "a culture war is raging between America's two most populous states. It's California versus Texas, and neither side, at the moment, seems to be winning."

So when Bush the Texan travels to California this week, the media will be watching closely. California is hostile territory for Bush, and he is worried enough about the visit that he reportedly invited Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to chaperone the trip -- an offer McCain respectfully declined. So Bush will have to go it alone, following some harsh words from his vice president about the state's Democratic governor.

Cheney criticized the state just over a week ago for its "harebrained" deregulation scheme, and basically told the state to fix the problem on its own. "What's happened in California, I would argue, is they've taken the route of saying, 'Well, we can conserve our way out of the problem ... We don't have to produce any more power.' So they haven't built any electric power plants in the last 10 years in California, and today they've got rolling blackouts," Cheney stated in an interview with CNN's John King.

Davis in turn sharpened his attacks on Bush's friends in the energy business and at the federal government. "We are literally in a war with energy companies who are price gouging us," Davis told the Associated Press after Bush laid out his energy plan. "Many of those companies are in Texas. Mr. President, you didn't create this problem, but you are the only one who can solve it." These are the same companies that Davis has so lovingly referred to in the past as "the biggest snakes in the world."

Bush and Davis are expected to meet sometime during the president's 48-hour sojourn to the state this week, but burying the hatchet didn't seem to be on the agenda as Davis' allies are still obviously reeling from Cheney's comments.

Salon News A Salon-eye view of the day's news, with investigative reports, analysis and interviews with newsmakers.