Opinion: Hilton blames Dems; Becerra blames Trump in governor debate

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The first and probably only face-to-face debate between the two candidates for California governor Wednesday night established its pattern right off the bat.

The two CNN anchors who conducted the event in Burbank, Jake Tapper and Dana Bush, would raise one of the state’s most pressing issues and seek responses from Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton.

Hilton would blame decades of Democratic political control for causing, or at least not fixing, the problem. Becerra would repeatedly shift the blame to Donald Trump, well aware that the president is very unpopular in the state.

“All you say is Trump, Trump, Trump,” Hilton said when the issue was immigration. “Trump, Trump, Trump,” Becerra responded.

So it went for an hour and a dozen issues.

Hilton, who trails Becerra by double digits in the polls and has no chance of becoming governor, actually put forth some policy changes he would propose if elected, mostly reducing regulations and red tape. Becerra, however, adhered doggedly to his “Trump, Trump, Trump” strategy and provided virtually no insight to how he would handle the issues.

Pointedly, Becerra did not defend Gavin Newsom or other Democratic officeholders as Hilton cited what he said were decades of poor governance.

When, for instance, the anchors brought up the plight of Southern California’s film and TV industry, which has shed thousands of jobs as production moves to other states, Becerra, without specifics, said he would “fight for Hollywood.”

Hilton shot back, “Who’s been in charge when all of those jobs left?”

Likewise, when the issue was the California school system’s poor record on academic achievement in national tests, Becerra’s response was “it’s not working,” while Hilton cited “some of the worst results in the country” during Democrats’ control of the Capitol.

It’s rare for debates to have any material effect on the outcome of political contests. That’s especially true when contestants repeatedly utter pre-digested talking points rather than actually conduct a dialogue.

Wednesday night’s event ran true to that form, but the issues that the anchors raised are real: homelessness, housing shortages, artificial intelligence, immigration, climate change, healthcare coverage and educational deficiencies.

They tried their best to make it a dialogue and Hilton actually did respond, although the policy changes he proposed would probably not sit well in a deeply blue state and he’ll never have a chance to find out.

Becerra just ducked, sticking to his blame-Trump strategy. Given his comfortable lead in the polls, he didn’t feel the need to tell Californians what he would do if elected.

In fact, however, the pressing issues that Tapper and Bush raised have virtually nothing to do with Trump or any other president. They were problems before Trump became president and they will be problems that Becerra — assuming he is elected — will face when Newsom departs in January and he takes the oath.

Nor are the issues that were raised Wednesday night a complete list. The most pressing is a state budget that is many billions of dollars out of balance due to the chronic overspending of revenues by Newsom and a Democratic-controlled Legislature.

It’s one thing to repeatedly cite Trump’s name during a debate. But the next governor will have to make some very difficult decisions on whether to reduce that spending, particularly on social and medical services that Democrats cherish, or tell Californians that they must pay more in taxes when living costs in the state are already out of control.

Hilton’s point that Democrats own the issues raised in the debate is quite valid, as Becerra will learn after he takes office.

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