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from Dan WaltersCalMatters
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There will be 61 names of gubernatorial candidates on the ballot for the June 2 primary, but the top two finishers — as everything in politics is sure to be — will be from the six who participated Wednesday night in the first state televised debate.
Former Congressman Eric Swawell’s scandalous exit this month shook up the field and seemingly lifted former attorney general (and former Biden cabinet member) Xavier Becerra into contention after months in the low single digits.
However, none have achieved support close to what would be needed to claim one of the top two finishes, probably in the mid-20% range, and a place in the November election.
The debate, hosted by San Francisco’s NextStar streaming television stations, was a chance for them to shine.
No one did — if shining means making a compelling case that he or she is what California needs to confront the existential issues that will determine whether the state can once again be a unique place where people can see their ambitions become reality.
These problems include a housing shortage, rampant homelessness, the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the nation, unreliable water supplies, rising utility costs, embarrassingly low academic achievement in public schools, and a state budget in chronic deficit.
The topics raised by the debate moderators touched on only a few of these issues, and too briefly to be meaningful. Otherwise, the questions dealt at best with peripheral issues that may be trending on social media but have little or nothing to do with the governance of the nation’s most populous and complex state.
Really, people, are we dying to know what streaming program the candidates have been watching recently?
Voters’ potential to learn more about what the candidates would do as governor was also undermined because only the first hour of the debate aired on old-fashioned television. Viewers had to switch to their computers to watch the last half hour.
All this being said, what could one possibly learn from watching?
For one thing, the four Democrats are reluctant to criticize outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom on one of the issues that really matter, since the number of homeless people is the highest in the nation.
Asked to give Newsom grade letters on homelessness, no one offered anything lower than a B, even though the problem is finally as bad as it was when Newsom took office in 2019. The two Republicans, of course, gave him Fs.
We only got short audio snippets of what the six would do on their own to reduce homelessness.
The related issue of housing, both supply and spending, got a bit more attention, but it mostly came down to six promises to make it easier for developers, which was Newsom’s approach, but it didn’t significantly affect either housing production or spending.
That was it for the big questions. There was nothing about water, one short answer to one viewer-generated question about academic achievement, and some sound bites about the cost and availability of home insurance.
Still, we got relatively long answers about gasoline taxes, charging for zero-emission vehicles, whether truck drivers should be able to read English, and whether young children should be banned from using social media — again, modern issues, but not the serious ones that will face the next governor.
From a purely political point of view, none of the sextet made a point that resonated enough to change the dynamics of the campaign. Nor has anyone made an offensive blunder.
Perhaps the next televised debate scheduled for next Tuesday will be meatier and more informative. It can hardly be less.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.