By Felicia Mello

For voters who have trouble distinguishing between the political positions of lieutenant governor candidates Eleni Kounalakis and Ed Hernandez—or remembering what the so-called “Lite Gov” does, anyway—their personal backgrounds provide an obvious contrast.

Although both are the first in their families to graduate from college, Hernandez, now a state senator, was a teen parent and worked long hours while commuting to Cal State Fullerton. Former U.S. ambassador Kounalakis, the daughter of a successful developer, attended an Ivy League college and is spending millions of her family’s money on her campaign.

But at a higher education forum in San Francisco on Tuesday, both candidates focused on making California’s public colleges and universities more affordable and accessible to the state’s record number of high school graduates.

Read the full story at CALmatters.