ESCONDIDO -- Shaking their heads no, nodding yes and chuckling at times, five North County residents watched Wednesday evening's lively debate among five candidates vying to become California's next governor, and came away with more questions than answers

Among them, why the biggest dog in the hunt wasn't on the panel in Sacramento.

"I think in all fairness that Gov. Gray Davis should have been called to the debate," said Patrick Matarazzo of Vista, a federal government employee. "His absence was stunning … a major faux pas. I want to know why Davis didn't insist on being there."

Davis' absence didn't change Matarazzo's mind about his vote on the recall.

"I'm voting yes," he said. "He should take a bullet."

Most of the other four people in the focus group who watched the 1 1/2-hour television event in the lunch room at the North County Times, agreed Davis should have been there to defend himself and answer questions.

If he had been, said Doris Welty, a retired school teacher who lives in Leucadia, more questions would have been asked.

But Reginald Owens, of Oceanside, said Davis can defend himself without being there.

"He has some answering to do, but it's to the public and not to these particular candidates," said Owens, who is the first vice president of the North San Diego County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Another hot issue among group members was balancing the budget, which none felt was adequately addressed.

"The rationale for the recall was the budget," said Owens.

Stephen Csicsatka, a Cal State San Marcos student and a member of the campus Republican club, noted a flaw in a statement by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who said no universities had been built in the state for decades.

"And I'm sitting here saying 'What's Cal State San Marcos about?' " asked Csicsatka. The San Marcos campus was built in 1989.

Infrastructure and Proposition 54, which would prohibit the state from collecting race-based data, were also key issues with the group.

"I thought they missed the boat seriously on the driver's license issue," said Paul Ruez of Vista, an Oceanside High School teacher. "They only addressed it generally and emotionally. Only one thought it was a security issue."

As candidates Bustamante, Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Thomas McClintock, Independent Arianna Huffington and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo verbally jousted, with Huffington repeatedly jabbing at Schwarzenegger, the focus group took notes, munched crackers, cheese and veggie snacks and watched intently.

"This was just class warfare between the rich and the middle class," Matarazzo said later. "This just plays to the emotions."

McClintock had the clearest vision, he said. Welty thought Camejo "did a super job." Schwarzenegger is "a people's person," said Csicsatka, while Owens criticized Bustamante as being "too cool." Ruez, however, said he felt the lieutenant governor expressed himself clearly.

Although Huffington drew a thumbs up from Welty at one point during the debate, several thought Huffington came across as the least effective candidate, even "a nut."

Welty and Ruez thought Schwarzenegger was the least effective, saying he was impolite and interrupted.

McClintock and Camejo came across as the most effective, several said, with McClintock scoring marks for a clear vision and someone who knew what he was talking about.

But while the debate was entertaining, it didn't seem to change many opinions.

"It made me realize I am a Republican," Csicsatka said of the debate.

"And I'm not," Welty responded.

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.