Good morning.

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Gavin Newsom is the lieutenant governor, a former San Francisco mayor and a leading Democrat to replace Gov. Jerry Brown. California Today has been doing occasional question-and-answer sessions with candidates for office. Today’s interview with Mr. Newsom, edited and condensed for clarity, was conducted for our article on the race.

Q. Were there things Jerry Brown did you would continue?

A. Oh, the “one that gets me in trouble” question. Brown’s perfect. (Laughs) Look — he’s done an extraordinary job. It’s important to remind folks where we were seven years ago: 12.4 percent unemployment, $27 billion budget deficit. Now we are having a raging debate about the size of the surplus. This state has turned a corner.

Q. What has not gone right?

A. We’re not all rowing in the same direction. We are the richest and the poorest state. Eight million living below the poverty line, 40 percent of our kids at or near the poverty line. Inequality is the issue that is going to define a good part of my tenure. To say it happened on our watch is accurate.

Q. Has the governor paid enough attention to homelessness?

A. He has on the margins. But have we designed a framework to regionalize solutions and to have the state drive the effort? No. And I intend to do that. We have never had a governor particularly animated by homelessness.