Candidates Forum

The four major candidates for California governor wrapped up preparations Tuesday for their first joint appearance, a forum today hosted by the Los Angeles Times at its downtown Harry Chandler Auditorium.

The event--which will feature Democrats Al Checchi, Gray Davis and Jane Harman and Republican Dan Lungren--will be broadcast live by several Southern California television and radio stations, and will be carried live on The Times’ World Wide Web site.

Meanwhile, plans were announced for a second joint appearance--a bipartisan, bilingual forum at Loyola Marymount University on May 23. That 60-minute session will be hosted by La Opinion newspaper and KMEX-TV Channel 34, and will be carried live statewide on five Spanish-language television stations serving Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and Bakersfield. It will begin at 11 a.m.

At that forum, the candidates will field questions in English and Spanish, with assistance from a translator. It will be broadcast in Spanish, and a complete text will run in La Opinion, the nation’s largest Spanish-language daily newspaper.

The forum marks a significant coup for La Opinion and Univision, the parent of KMEX. It comes at a time when Latinos have emerged as an increasingly important and influential force in California politics.

“Given the dramatic shift in California’s political and demographic landscape, we felt it was important to pay particular attention to the issues of greatest concern to Latino voters,” said Monica Lozano, associate publisher and executive editor of La Opinion.

On June 2, for the first time, voters will be able to cast ballots for candidates from any party, reflecting the state’s change to a new “blanket” primary system.

The Times’ 10:30 a.m. forum will be broadcast by these Los Angeles-area media:

* KTLA-TV Channel 5--live

* Century Cable--live

* Orange County News Channel--live

* KPCC-FM (89.3) radio--live, rebroadcast at 5 p.m.

* KNX-AM (1070) radio--live

* The Times’ World Wide Web site, https://www.latimes.com/gov--live; audio and video also available through election day

* KCBS-TV Channel 2--2 p.m.

* KCET-TV Channel 28--7 p.m.

* C-SPAN--This evening and this weekend

* KCRW-FM (89.9)--1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The Times will publish a special report in English and Spanish on the forum Thursday. The report also will be posted on The Times’ Web site beginning that day.