By LARRY MARGASAK
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (May 28) - President Bush promised World War II veterans a Washington memorial that ''will stand for the ages'' and paid Memorial Day tribute to America's fallen soldiers before embarking on a three-day West Coast swing to ease his political problems in California.

Electricity shortages in the nation's most populous state have pitted the Republican president against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in a high-stakes game of blame shifting.

For most of the day, however, Bush focused on U.S. veterans - and the solemn ceremonies in two states honoring those who never returned from America's wars.

''Their losses can be marked, but not measured,'' Bush said at the traditional Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. ''We can never measure the full value of what was gained in their sacrifice. We live it every day, in the comforts of peace and the gifts of freedom.''

Bush, who also laid a wreathe at the Tomb of the Unknowns, was traveling later to Mesa, Ariz., to pay tribute to veterans at the Champlin Fighter Aircraft Museum.

He was accompanied by Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., but not one of the nation's best-known veterans: Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The former presidential rival of Bush was in Ireland meeting with foreign leaders, spokeswoman Nancy Ives said.

Bush opened the day at the White House, where he signed legislation to construct a World War II monument on the National Mall, a setting criticized by some who say it would break up the vista.

Standing in front of an American flag and a portrait of George Washington, the president said the monument between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial ''will stand for the ages.''

''I will make sure the monument gets built,'' the president told an audience of veterans in the yellow-curtained East Room, among them former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., who supported construction of the memorial.

Bush has said World War II veterans are dying at a rate of 1,100 each day, leaving no time to waste on the project.

The California trip promised to be a rancorous one, because the state is engulfed in an energy crisis and Bush has refused to cap wholesale electricity prices as Davis requested.

Bush has blamed California's shortages on state officials, and argues that price caps won't solve shortages.

Davis, a potential presidential candidate in 2004, has accused Bush of ignoring the state. The president has visited 28 states, but not California, since taking office.

They meet Tuesday, and neither side expects a resolution of the political feud.

Bush narrowly won the presidency after losing California to former Vice President Al Gore by 12 percentage points.

Senior Republicans, including some Bush advisers, concede privately that Bush's prospects for winning the state in 2004 are dim, but insist that he won't give up on California - in part because it is so critical to putting together a winning coalition of states. Furthermore, Republicans could suffer in key congressional races if Bush backs out of the state.

Critics of the World War II monument have said the design is too grandiose and would clutter the Mall and obstruct the sweeping views. The new law places the memorial plans outside normal regulatory process, effectively overriding all the resistance including a lawsuit filed in October that contends federal laws were violated in the review process.

Taking note of the controversy after the bill signing, Bush said in a written statement: ''Now that debate over the site and basic design is concluded, the time has come for all concerned ... to act with the same determination and sense of common purpose so wonderfully displayed by those we honor.''

Planned for a 7.4-acre site in the heart of the Mall, a circle of granite pillars will represent the states and territories, and two four-story arches are to signify victory in Europe and Asia.

Sponsors say the actual monument will take up about one-third of the site and will cost about $160 million. Some $150 million has been received in pledges for private donations, with the rest to come from federal funding and interest payments.

Many in the White House audience, veterans of several wars, wore caps from veterans organizations - some with medals pinned on them. Bush asked the World War II veterans to stand, and about a dozen stood up.

Bush also announced creation of a task force that will recommend major reforms in delivery of health care to veterans and military retirees.