SAN DIEGO — With just 12 days before the California gubernatorial election, where voters will have to choose between a pair of mediocre candidates — Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton — many questions remain unasked.

In their respective quests to lead a state of nearly 40 million people with the world's fourth-largest economy, both Becerra and Hilton have gotten free rides.

As a native of Central California, this ticks me off. I spent 10 years serving on two different editorial boards at newspapers in Dallas and San Diego, where I participated in hundreds of candidate interviews. Tempers flared. Profanities flew. Elected officials, and those who aspired to hold that title, often emerged from those meetings battered and bruised. More than once, I got hauled into the principal's office for being too aggressive and hurting someone's feelings. Such good times.

Meanwhile, neither Becerra nor Hilton has a scratch on them. That comes at a cost. Fire tempers steel. Combat makes you a better leader. The lack of it makes you soft.

It's not like critics don't have ammunition. Becerra is absent, unapproachable and programmed, while Hilton is arrogant, unlikable and presumptuous. Both are entitled and unable to relate to everyday voters. Becerra is a Mexican-American native of the state whose ethnic identity seems amorphous, while Hilton is an English immigrant who sounds as if he wants to colonize a state with Mexican roots and gift it to King Charles.

The two do have at least one thing in common. When discussing immigration — which has been an explosive topic in my home state since 1994, when the California Republicans alienated Latinos by going full nativist, and California Democrats decided this meant they could stop delivering for this tribe — both candidates are dishonest.

Becerra is lying when he claims to have always defended immigrants, even though he took a vow of silence when a fellow Democrat - former President Barack Obama — deported more than 3 million of them under shady circumstances that got the president sued by the American Civil Liberties Union. Becerra, who was serving in Congress at the time, even told Mexican activists and Dreamers who were critical of Obama's immigration record to pipe down and fall in line behind the president. Some defender.

Hilton is lying when he says that immigration won't be a priority if he is elected governor. Has this guy heard of Google? A few months ago, during the primary election, Hilton promised to help the leader of his party, President Donald Trump, execute the most anti-immigrant agenda undertaken by any U.S. president since President Dwight Eisenhower loaded Mexicans onto railroad cars in 1954's "Operation Wetback." Which version of Hilton are voters being asked to support?

So why haven't Becerra and Hilton been put through the wringer? The best explanation is that many observers consider this race a done deal. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, 45% to 25%, with independents making up much of the rest.

In a recent survey by Emerson College Polling, Becerra's lead over Hilton has grown to 27 points, 60% to 33%. Just 7% of voters are undecided.

Many commentators have probably concluded that Becerra has this election in the bag, and so they have shifted their attention elsewhere.

That's no excuse for not asking tough questions that make candidates wince. This is journalism, not charm school. Must I do everything? Fine.

Mr. Becerra, many assume you've been reluctant to talk about the practice you oversaw, when you served as Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2021 to 2025, of releasing unaccompanied minors to adults at the U.S.-Mexico border because it makes you look bad. However, isn't it true that your reluctance also stems from the fact that you're protecting a fellow Democrat who was sitting in the Oval Office in the summer of 2014 when this practice began — President Obama?

Mr. Hilton, you have been endorsed by President Trump, who is at war with California. Recently, the Trump Justice Department sued the state to prevent election officials from counting as many as 20,000 ballots that the administration claims were cast by noncitizens. Trump himself threatened to jail state officials who don't do his bidding. If you're elected governor, Trump will no doubt try to collect his marker. Why should Californians believe you could stand up to him, or that you'd even want to try?

Ouch. That's going to leave a mark. Two of them, actually.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Kevin Schmid at Unsplash