The first full debate of the Davis recall campaign was like a video voter's guide, chock-full of important factoids but duller than dirt.

I counted 25 questions just in the portion that involved the candidates vying to replace Gov. Gray Davis, and 20 of those were answered by all five candidates. That's 105 answers in less than 90 minutes. I felt afterward as if I had been run over by a political-science book-mobile.

Presumably there is a better way for voters to learn Peter Ueberroth's position on abortion or Peter Camejo's stance on the death penalty. It seems as if the limited time in formal debates would be better used, well, debating. This wasn't a debate so much as a recital.

Since I am already taking heat for my suggestion that the public (and the candidates) be given debate questions in advance to engage the voters and reduce the inevitable evasion that goes on, I'll offer another novel idea, this one too late to do any damage: One debate should focus exclusively on the state's fiscal mess, forcing the candidates to go beyond their stock sound bites and to begin to offer some information in depth.

But before we move on to the next debate, here are my hit-and-run impressions from the first:

* Davis got the first half-hour to himself, and he must have said 11 times that he was committed to "connecting" more with voters. But like the writing teacher who used to say, "Don't tell me, show me," I'd like to actually see Davis connecting rather than hearing him talk about it all night.

When a lay questioner told the governor his story -- unemployed tech engineer, angry, worried about jobs shipped overseas -- Davis acknowledged his pain but then launched into a riff about punishing corporations that register abroad to avoid paying taxes. I know if I were in that guy's shoes, nothing would tick me off more than hearing the governor trying to score political points rather than addressing my concerns.

Still, given what followed, Davis probably improved his standing Wednesday night. By appearing alone in a relaxed atmosphere, he inevitably looked better than five snarling hyenas yapping at his tail.

* While everyone has been nagging Davis to name the mistakes he claims now to realize he made, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante jumped in without even being asked and acknowledged that he was wrong to have voted for the 1996 bill that deregulated electricity in California, a bill of which he was a co-author. Perhaps he thinks that vote might yet come back to haunt him.

* Arianna Huffington has a good thing going with her jihad against the prison industrial complex and the correctional officers union. She said she wants teachers to be paid more than prison guards, and later said one theme of her campaign is "books, not bars." You go, girl.

* Whatever you might think of Tom McClintock and his ideas, it can't be said that he trims his sails to match his audience. This is a man who knows what he believes and who isn't going to be shaken from it. He distinguished himself as a conservative's conservative, on everything from taxes to abortion, the death penalty, immigration and the environment. I still don't think he's in sync with the majority of the electorate. But he has the look of a guy who is willing to wait for the rest of us to figure out what he's known all along.

* Ueberroth looked lackluster and unsure of himself once again. I did like the way he kept bringing everything back to the jobs issue, to the point that he even drew a backhanded compliment from the moderator for staying "on message." He also stuck resolutely to his silly pledge not to criticize anyone, for anything. I thought he might have wanted to reconsider after Huffington, reacting to Ueberroth's defense of corporations, asked, "How dumb is that on a scale of one to 10?"

* Camejo struck a blow for political correctness when he noted that he was for allowing illegal immigrants to remain in California -- that is, the descendants of illegal European immigrants who landed in America hundreds of years ago. He's also fine with Latinos, of course. But he was cool to the true natives, the Indian tribes, and their No. 1 industry. "Casinos are not a good thing," he said.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger might have been wise after all to skip this debate. He certainly suffered no direct damage on television Wednesday for his absence. Had he been there, he might have outshined these folks, but then again he might have become the target of their wrath. By staying away it's possible he left some viewers wishing he were there, not so they could see him grilled but just so he could brighten the afternoon a bit.

* The big winner: marijuana. All five hypercharged candidates declared their support for keeping pot available for medicinal purposes. It was the only thing on which they all agreed. Maybe before the next debate, they should smoke some.