The California gubernatorial candidate forum at SF State shined the spotlight on lesser-known candidates who mainstream media have either ignored or made jokes about.

More than 100 people attended the event to see democracy in action and to hear 18 candidates speak on issues close to them

The [X]press online forum was mediated by Davey D, of Hard Knock Radio, who steered candidates through a series of questions covering several topics ranging from balancing the budget to education. Candidates’ answers included several intriguing solutions for California’s budget problems, among them a proposal from Democrat Calvin Louie for Californians to prepay their taxes, as well as an argument by Jon Zellhoefer, a Republican, for the legalization of marijuana. In fact, all but one of the candidates supported the decriminalization of marijuana.

One topic the candidates were not overwhelmingly in agreement on was Proposition 54. Five of the candidates were in support of the measure.

“I think Prop. 54 eliminates the continual attempt to put us in a racial box,” said Democrat Dick Lane, a former professor at SF State.

Candidate William Tsangares stole the show with an impassioned speech against George Bush, the war in Iraq and the recall, while admitting that he “doesn’t have a chance” at becoming governor. “Vote no first,” urged Tsangares.

One of the more emotional moments of the forum happened when Sharon Rushford, an Independent, spoke of the injustice in the health care system by relating an anecdote of her husband losing one of his legs. Her husband’s leg were amputated, when according to Rushford, blood thinning might have cured the problem.

Many may consider a vote spent on a candidate without a chance of winning to be a waste but several candidates, including Democrat Christopher Ranken, urged the audience to vote on principles and applauded the recall for giving average people such as the citizen candidates the chance to get involved in politics.

While some candidates conceded that the odds of any of them becoming governor were pretty slim, they were appreciative of the forum for allowing them the chance to speak their minds.

“We have been ignored by mainstream media so we really appreciate this,” thanked Independent Bob McClain.

For coverage of these candidates, see our [X]press Recall Package and click on the "MORE CANDIDATES" button.