Newsletter: Essential Politics: Six candidates for California governor, one final debate

By the time the 90-minute debate between candidates for California governor was over Tuesday night, each of the hopefuls had used all of their best arguments. They talked housing, education, immigration. They threw a few jabs and admitted they missed the old-school primaries where the political parties all get a candidate on the fall ballot.

But did the event move the needle in the race with four weeks to go? That will be the real question to answer in the days and weeks to come.

CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR SPAR OVER ECONOMY, TRUMP

As Seema Mehta and Phil Willon write, the debate was both contentious and consequential. It may be the last time the leading six candidates — Democrats Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa, John Chiang and Delaine Eastin, Republicans John Cox and Travis Allen — all are on the same stage before the June 5 primary.

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My analysis of the debate comes down to this: The candidates stuck to the playbook that’s gotten them this far, and offered voters the best chance to get a small dose of their personalities and policy beliefs.

We also had a few extras from The Times’ politics team — from real-time analysis for the online audience to a look at which governor-in-waiting spoke the longest during the televised event.

If you missed it, you can watch the debate here.

’THE UNITED STATES NO LONGER MAKES EMPTY THREATS’

President Trump’s decision on Tuesday to back out of the international nuclear treaty with Iran had been telegraphed for days, though still sent tremors throughout the global community.

What may have been most notable was how the announcement was almost entirely focused on condemning the work of the man he succeeded, former President Barack Obama.

Trump never mentioned Obama by name but did so multiple times by deed.

“This was a horrible, one-sided deal that never, ever should have been made,” he said. “It didn’t bring calm. It didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”

Obama, who has steered clear of direct responses to Trump, took to Facebook to speak out against the decision.

He slammed Trump’s decision as “misguided,” saying it “turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated.”

Other Democrats took a similar approach in decrying the decision, while many (though not all) Republicans lined up behind the president’s decision.

The announcement raised a series of questions beyond just the world of international diplomacy. From aerospace to the price of gasoline, economists believe the shift on Iranian policy will have noticeable effects in the United States.

SESSIONS: MIGRANT FAMILIES MAY BE SPLIT UP

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said on Monday that families who illegally cross the border may be separated after their arrest, with children sent to juvenile shelters while their parents are sent to adult detention facilities.

And the challenge for many migrant families is convincing federal officials the children they’re with actually belong to them, as Molly Hennessy-Fiske found in rural Texas.

NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND

-- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his second unannounced visit to North Korea on Tuesday to complete plans for a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

-- The company used by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to pay off porn actress Stormy Daniels received about $500,000 last year from a business linked to a Russian billionaire who is close to President Vladimir Putin.

-- Oliver North, the former Marine who was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, is expected to become the next president of the National Rifle Assn.

-- President Trump on Monday tweeted in support of his nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, saying she’s “come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists.” She faces a tough Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.

-- A Pentagon investigation into a deadly ambush last year in Niger that left four U.S. soldiers killed recommends no disciplinary action, even though officers misled higher-ups about the danger of the mission they were conducting.

-- The fight over net neutrality returns as supporters launch a long-shot bid to resurrect the rules.

-- It’s not just you, we’re all living in the United States of Anxiety these days.

THE JOSH NEWMAN RECALL: WELCOME TO THE SENATE, NOW LEAVE

A week after voting with fellow Democrats to raise California’s gas tax, state Sen. Josh Newman was vacationing with his wife on a Caribbean island when he saw a news alert on his phone that said Republicans were targeting a lawmaker for recall over the action.

“I thought to myself: ‘Wow, somebody’s in trouble. That’s crazy.’ And then I clicked on the link, and lo and behold it was a picture of me,” the Fullerton Democrat said.

Next month, Newman faces a recall election — fueled by his vote for the 2017 fuel tax and vehicle fee package that goes to funding transportation projects. Voters in his Orange County district will first be asked whether to remove him from office and then asked which candidate should replace him if the recall is successful.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- California is set to require solar panels on all newly built single-family houses, the first statewide mandate in the nation. On Wednesday, state officials are expected to approve the rules, which would take effect in 2020.

-- Federal agents executed search warrants at Adelanto City Hall and the home of Mayor Rich Kerr on Tuesday morning, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation.

-- More than 20,000 members of the University of California’s largest employee union walked off their jobs Monday on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides.

-- Sen. Kamala Harris, in solidarity with the striking UC workers, canceled plans to deliver the commencement address at UC Berkeley.

-- Some L.A. streets aren’t being repaved because of a local law dating from the Great Depression.

-- Assembly Democrats unveiled a $1-billion proposal for new healthcare spending, signaling this will be their big priority in upcoming budget talks.

-- The DCCC has inserted itself more forcefully into California’s 39th Congressional District race, airing two ads attacking Republican candidates who are vying for Rep. Ed Royce’s seat. But the ads stayed away from elevating any single Democrat in the crowded race.

-- California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, dissenting Monday in a death penalty decision, called for new rules to curb inaccurate eyewitness identification, a leading cause of wrongful convictions.

-- Money collected through California’s marijuana taxes may fall short of the $175 million budgeted for the first six months of this year. And the less than expected haul could force the Legislature to shelve a bill that would reduce the excise tax on pot.

LOGISTICS

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