The first gubernatorial debate of the season will take place this afternoon, but it won't be the usual panel of what the public gently derides as ``talking heads'' from big newspapers and television stations.
It'll be editors from ethnic media publications and newscasts who are gathering at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, 3,000 strong, for the New California Media EXPO, one of the largest news media conferences that you'll see on this coast.
They're not as interested in the business fraud lawsuits that dogged Bill Simon or strong-arm campaign fundraising or some of the other headlines that we've seen.
They want to know how their readers' and audiences' everyday lives will be affected by the election of a Bill Simon or a Gray Davis or a Peter Camejo. They want to know about economic betterment of the state, affordable health care and good schools. They want to know where the candidates stand on issues involving trade with China or Mexico. About racial profiling, immigration and foreign student visas. In short, they want to know about the same things all Californians are interested in -- and then some.
Not into `political battles'
``We're not into the political battles over somebody's taxes . . . and who said what and what the ads mean,'' said Pilar Marrero, political editor of La Opinión, a Spanish-language paper that reaches half a million people. ``Most people don't care about the election because the information they get is not relevant to them.''
The debate opens the New California Media EXPO and Awards, a San Francisco-based organization, and is designed to broaden political discussion among the state's many ethnic communities through the media that serve them. New California Media (NCM) will present awards to outstanding work produced in publications serving 11 different communities, no fewer than eight of them coming from the Bay Area. (My colleague, Viet Mercury photographer Thu Hoang Ly, was runner-up for best photo essay.)
``We have the same dreams, the same fears, the same objectives in life,'' said W. Bruno Kalifa, editor-in-chief of An-Nahar and Eterna publishing, an Arabic-English weekly that takes its name from a well-respected newspaper in Lebanon. ``But I'm also going to talk about Hollywood, immigration, and profiling.''
As part of the four-person panel grilling the candidates, Dr. William Hanford Lee, publisher of the Sacramento Observer, thinks the issues of affordable housing and better access to health care resonate particularly with his audience but also to the broader California public.
It's too bad Gray Davis won't be there alongside Simon and Camejo.
Two debates scheduled
The only debate scheduled so far that Davis had definitely committed to is Oct. 7 in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Times. Davis has tentatively agreed to one other, by Univision, the Spanish-language network. That's all Davis says he'll agree to because, after all, he's a busy, working governor with a state to run and bills to sign, said campaign strategist Garry South.
``We get dozens upon dozens of debate invitations; it's the governor's prerogative to accept them or not.''
For historical context, South said, Republican Gov. George Deukmejian allowed Democratic challenger Tom Bradley ``exactly no debates'' in 1986. Incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson allowed Kathleen Brown one debate in 1994. There were six debates in 1996 throughout the open primary and the general election.
OK, OK, OK. Got it. But in many ways, it's Davis' loss.
We'll miss it live, but C-Span will be taping today, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles is assigning a political analyst, and the ``NewsHour with Jim Lehrer'' has requested tape, said Sonny Le, from NCM. Davis can catch up.
``In this forum we have the opportunity to ask questions for Californians,'' said Lee. ``Emerging Californians.''
