Is Gavin Newsom too big for California?

Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign announced Thursday that he has accepted his first debate invitation — from CNN — while rejecting an offer from The Chronicle and KCRA-TV to debate state issues with John Cox with questions from California journalists on a statewide broadcast. Why did one candidate for governor of, uh, California, say no to us? He’s just too darn busy, his campaign claims.

We don’t take it personally, because we realize he has debate offers from other California interests. But voters should be offended that the front-runner for governor leaps at the opportunity to pummel Cox as a “mini Trump” on a national stage instead of focusing on issues such as housing, water, gas taxes and high-speed rail that matter from San Diego to Yreka — but hold no interest in, say, Iowa or New Hampshire.

In a Thursday text, Newsom claimed he “quite literally” knew “nothing about the debate schedule” and would “happily look into it.” If so, we’re about to find out who runs the campaign: the candidate or his star-gazing strategists.

John Diaz, editorial page editor