ight candidates vying to become California’s next governor gathered Tuesday at Pomona College in Claremont for a debate that was as much a test of scrappy stamina as it was of policy, with contenders in the crowded field fighting for airtime while attempting to address the state’s deepening affordability crisis.
The debate’s distracting format, featuring rotating, often chatty moderators from CBS News and CBS Los Angeles with markedly different styles and tight limits on responses, produced more chaos than clarity. Candidates repeatedly spoke over one another, squabbled with moderators over time and fairness, and struggled to develop substantive answers amid the crosstalk.
The structure favored quick soundbites over in-depth exchanges, leaving viewers with flashes of competing rhetoric rather than a detailed policy debate.
“Wow, that was a bit of a mess,” remarked Pomona College student Ryan Kossarian as he stood to ask a question.
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