Matt Weir / The Collegian

Saturday’s historic gubernatorial debate, the first in California to be broadcast in Spanish, only furthered the tension in the race between Republican nominee Meg Whitman and Democratic pick Jerry Brown, a race already riddled with hostility.

The debate, hosted in the Satellite Student Union on the Fresno State campus, aired Saturday at 4 p.m. after the candidate’s answers were translated into Spanish. It was broadcast exclusively by Spanish-language news channel Univision, targeting California’s Latino vote.

“The Latino vote is important,” Whitman said. “I cannot win without the Latino vote.”

Latino voters, however, didn’t seem to support Whitman’s traditionally conservative stances. Brown, at the time of the debate, was up three percent in the polls.During the debate, Whitman accused Brown of defaming the character of her former housekeeper Nicky Diaz, an undocumented employee from Mexico. The news that the former eBay executive hired an illegal immigrant caused a stir among Whitman’s campaign and her supporters when they caught wind of it early last week.

Whitman retorted that Brown was to blame for the situation.

“Jerry Brown, you should be ashamed for sacrificing Nicky Diaz on the altar of your political ambitions,” Whitman said.

Whitman’s housekeeper was one of many issues covered at the debate, as well as education. While both candidates expressed their stances on restoring funding to public education, many students felt neither candidate took a strong enough stand.

“They need to make their plans more specific,” said student protester Stephanie Romero. “There needs to be more details for how they would invest in higher education.”

The One Million More campaign, a cause illustrative of college students’ frustration with a lack of public funding, provided more reasons for Romero’s group to protest.

“If the state’s higher education system doesn’t graduate one million new students by 2025, our state will basically fall apart,” said Jay Cortez, associated students organization president at Los Angeles City College. “[That statement] is pretty shocking, but if we want solidarity, then we’re going to need to invest more in education.”

Inside the debate, both candidates were asked tough questions from students and community members about two of the Central Valley’s most pressing issues, immigration and water.

Latino voters consider such issues to be the most important this election season. During one particularly tense part of the debate, Fresno State student Adriana Sanchez asked Whitman about her stance on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The Act would allow foreign-born students like Sanchez to stay in the United States if she completed two years of college or served in the military for two years.

“Jerry Brown said that it was not up to him to pass it, but he supported the DREAM Act, which was vetoed yesterday by Governor Schwarzenegger,” said Sanchez. “Meg Whitman said she does not support the DREAM Act and does not support students like me even though we are ready to join the labor force here in California.”

Brown’s stance on immigration met with better reception among the debate’s Hispanic viewers.

“The federal government needs to strengthen its borders and provide a path to citizenship,” said Brown.

Another issue of similar importance was restoring water to the Central Valley.

“The Central Valley is in a chronic water shortage,” said Whitman. “It’s important for the state to be conserving water, so that we can pump more water through the delta for ecological purposes as well as provide water to the farmers in the delta.”

While Whitman’s solution focused on state control, Brown set his sights on creating water-oriented jobs.

“We need to invest more in the water infrastructure, where we can put people to work,” he said.

Despite mudslinging and tough questions from students, the debate met with approval in the eyes of school administrators.

“I thought it was an excellent debate,” said John Welty, president of Fresno State. “I thought the responses were clear and did articulate the difference between the candidates.”

Some students, however, just heard inadequate responses.

Matt Weir / The Collegian

“In a way I was very disappointed to feel the future of the state could be in [Whitman’s] hands because just like other students, I want the chance to fully be a part of our state,” said Sanchez. “We have educated ourselves to be professionals, and even though we get the grades, we have the restriction of not being documented. I was expecting her to say she did not support the DREAM act, but I think showing more support for students in my situation would’ve been better.”

Ana Mendoza contributed to this report.