Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante on Thursday said as governor he would support a state constitutional amendment to regulate the price of gasoline, while GOP candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger rallied a throng of potential supporters in Fresno and faced continuing questions about his past sexual behavior and drug use.

Cultural tensions also escalated on the campaign trail. Bustamante drew conservative fire for his membership in a Latino activist group as a student, and the League of United Latin American Citizens called on Schwarzenegger to step down from the advisory board of U.S. English, a group that seeks to make English the official language of the United States.

In a day of developments, a state appeals court also upheld a decision to exclude information on Tom McClintock, the principal conservative candidate to succeed Gov. Gray Davis, from voter pamphlets for California's Oct. 7 recall election.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled that McClintock never properly amended a campaign form on which he indicated -- inadvertently, according to his lawyer -- his agreement to be excluded from the official candidate information that will be mailed to voters' homes.

With pamphlet printing set to begin Sunday, a lawyer representing McClintock said he'll appeal to the state Supreme Court this morning. He said he'll also request an emergency order from U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

"We're not taking 'no' as an answer on this," attorney Richard Ackerman said.

Ackerman said McClintock hadn't realized he would be excluded from the pamphlet if he checked a box on a candidate "statement of intention" that he always checked when running for office -- one indicating his refusal to accept voluntary campaign spending limits. Under a 2001 law, refusing to accept the limits means a candidate forgoes inclusion in the pamphlet.

Bustamante's call for gasoline price regulation came amid a record surge in gas prices as millions of motorists prepare to take to the road for the Labor Day weekend.

"Californians are being gouged, and under current law, we are powerless to do anything about it," Bustamante said at a news conference in front of a gasoline station near Sacramento's Land Park.

Bustamante is backing a measure introduced Thursday by Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, to add the word "gasoline" to the list of commodities defined as public utilities in the state constitution, making it subject to regulation by the state Public Utilities Commission.

Bustamante and Dunn share the same political consultant, Richie Ross, and their proposal is intended to tap growing consumer frustration. But it faces significant legal and political hurdles and, as a constitutional amendment, would require approval by voters. No state has regulated gasoline prices, but Bustamante added that nowhere are prices or industry profits as high as in California.

Prices in California rose 18 cents last week to an average of $2.10 a gallon for self-serve regular, according to federal statistics.

Separate task forces commissioned by Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Davis during earlier run-ups in gasoline prices found no evidence of market manipulation.

Industry officials attribute the current price surge to low inventories, mechanical troubles at several West Coast refineries and a pipeline rupture in Arizona.

Jeff Wilson, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association, rejected suggestions that oil companies are driving up gas prices to increase profits.

"The price of gasoline has nothing to do with who produces it, who sells it and which government agency oversees it," Wilson said. "It has everything to do with demand and the ability to produce supply during these peak times of market volatility."

On Thursday, Bustamante also defended his membership in a Latino student activist group while a college student in the 1970s.

Critics have charged on conservative talk shows that that Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MEChA, is a racist and separatist organization.

A Fox News Network reporter invited Bustamante to repudiate MEChA and its views -- an offer he declined.

"The students who are in MEChA today are just like the students when I was there," he said. "Pretty much they are trying to get an education."

Organizations such as MEChA, Bustamante said, provided nurturing for a generation of Latinos who are now mainstream Americans.

"For me and many, many others, we were running for student government," he said. "That is how I got here today."

Meanwhile, LULAC, the nation's oldest Latino civil rights group, called on Schwarzenegger to step down from the advisory board of U.S. English. The group said the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger's position brings into question his commitment to Latinos.

"We are tremendously disturbed by Schwarzenegger's continued tenure as a board member of U.S. English, an organization that has strongly advocated for English only and for Proposition 227, which severely limited bilingual education," said Hector Flores, LULAC's national president.

Flores said it is unrealistic to expect students who do not speak English to become fluent in the language in a short period of time without using Spanish in the classroom.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said the actor agrees with efforts to make English the official language.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger came to this country with a few dollars in his pocket and not speaking the English language, and he realized the importance of learning to speak English as quickly as possible to achieve your American dreams," Walsh said.

Schwarzenegger, who visited an after-school program, toured a canning operation and attended a shopping center rally in Fresno Thursday, also picked up the endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Jon Coupal, the association's president, praised him for his past support for Proposition 13, the property tax-cutting initiative.

Schwarzenegger told reporters he had "no memory" of a 1977 interview for the now-defunct Oui magazine in which he described participating in group sex and drug use.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said when asked about the interview. "I'm here to push my economic agenda. I'm here to listen to people. I'm here to have a rally. ... I have no memory of an interview I did 20 or 30 years ago."

Asked about the same article during a radio talk show Wednesday, he said he wasn't considering running for governor at the time and often said "ludicrous" and "outrageous" things.

In the 1977 interview, Schwarzenegger described oral sex backstage at bodybuilding competitions and group sex at the gym with one woman. He admitted to smoking marijuana and hashish but said he never used "hard drugs."

Rob Stutzman, a spokesman, said Schwarzenegger has said outrageous things in his past but the "public understands those are decades old."