Although Mr. Davis, who is fighting a recall effort, is the prime example of how an electrical crisis can harm a public figure, he also seemed likely to benefit somewhat from the blackout in the Northeast.
In the short term, Sangtuda-1, a hydropower plant that began operating last winter, will take on some of the country's electrical heavy lifting, though its introduction failed to resolve the electricity crisis.
Correction: May 20 , 2001 Sunday An article last Sunday about the electrical power crisis in Montana reversed the closing dates of the mines and smelter once owned by Anaconda Copper Mining, which created the Montana Power Company.
Despite the political upheaval, growing budget deficit, the electrical power crisis and the bursting of Silicon Valley's bubble -- all of which have created the image of a state deep in recession -- California's economy, by many measures, has done better than the rest of the nation's in the last few years.
HOW did the government, which controls much of the nation's electrical grid, respond to the crisis?
"I still deal with my lender, and they threaten with legal action now and again," said Mr. Gilroy, whose electrical business failed in the crisis.
The new technology includes totally electronic switches able to divert electrical flows protectively at moments of crisis.
Nada Doumani, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the sprawling hospital complex had lost beds, electrical fittings and other equipment, worsening the crisis already afflicting all of Baghdad's medical centers.
The crisis developed because the plant lost electrical power from the grid and the tsunami knocked out its backup diesel generators.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health warns that damage done to water and sewage systems during the long electrical outage has resulted in a worsening epidemiological crisis, including outbreaks of typhoid.
