Commentary: California is having its most wide-open governor's race in decades. Why's that?

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Nearly a dozen serious candidates are running, with perhaps more on the way.

Billionaire Tom Steyer is among the newest entrants, but California has not been kind to super-rich candidates.

Today we discuss Texas, overreaction and the voluminous field of candidates for California governor.

Is there anyone who is not running for governor?

I’m not . And neither are my two cats. At least they weren’t as of this morning, when we discussed the race before breakfast.

That leaves us somewhat short of the 135 candidates who ran in California’s 2003 recall gubernatorial election. But not by much.

I count nearly a dozen serious candidates, with possibly more to come. Why so many?