that when you depend on players that come close to monopolizing a commodity, or the distribution system of a commodity then you cannot deregulate.

For market forces to work at all you have to have a large number of competitors to provide and to distribute the commodity. If you don't have the competitors then you have to have control. I don't like it that way, any more than you do. It's just the way it is. Monopolists will bleed you till you are white.

Davis' immediate reactions to the catastrophy were tactical in nature and should not be judged by strategic standards. He had to keep the lights on, and keep business from fleeing the state.

He also had a complete lack of cooperation to deal with, since the Repubs (including the Bush administration) were trying to shoot him down from the second it started (even ran anti-Davis attack ads on TV - years from the next election!). Everyone in the state wanted to distance themselves from the crisis and have nothing to do with the solution (which no matter what you did, would include some very hard political choices).

It would have been a very good time for both parties to come together and work towards an inevitably controversial solution. Sort of like the way the feds came together for 9/11. If Bush received the same level of support from Democrats during the 9/11 crisis (I'm not equating the two crises), the Dems probably would have found themselves facing military tribunals.

Not that I would expect any sort of leniency from Repubs towards Davis, in this election year. That's just politics, and everyone plays that game.

Still, Davis was in a very hot seat, that you should thank your lucky stars was not occupied by a Republican.

Long post! Sorry about that!