Blah, not rah-rah, in gubernatorial race so far

(Skelton, from Bt]

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KATIE PORTER, left, Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Becerra, Betty Yee and Tony Thurmond spar during a candidate forum in September.

(CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times)

Baby boomers are roughly ages 60 through 79 —born after World War II, between 1946 and 1964.

Another plus is political incumbency — the ability for a candidate to be identified on the ballot label as, for example, attorney general or lieutenant governor. That denotes credibility and a record. You're not allowed to call yourself “former” anything.

Democratic strategist Garry South calls the current crop basically “a field of formers” and says that saddles them with an extra burden.

So far, the 2026 race to replace the termed-out Newsom has been a boring trot.

That is largely because the public's political focus has been on Trump and the toady Republican Congress. But it’s also because none of the gubernatorial candidates possesses the full six-pack of vital assets.

For months, the contest was frozen in waiting mode: Waiting for former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla to decide whether they wanted to run.

Either would have been an early favorite, but not a shoo-in. They'd have faced a fight. And neither apparently felt the job was worth it. No fire.