Jerry Brown gets a Democratic challenger

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It may appear that Democrat Jerry Brown has an unfettered path to the November election.

But technically, that’s not true.

San Francisco resident Peter Schurman, a former executive director of MoveOn.org, announced his candidacy for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination via press release Tuesday.

Schurman staked out the ground to Brown’s left, calling for tax increases and lowering the vote threshold in the Legislature to make tax hikes easier.

While Brown, and Republicans Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner suck up all the oxygen in the race, there are actually 23 people who have declared their candidacy for governor, according to the secretary of State’s website.

Others publicly flirted with the idea, including Prince Frederic von Anhalt, husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Guess Jeans founder Georges Marciano. But apparently, neither candidate followed through with the paperwork necessary to formally make the race.

The only candidate outside the Big Three to open a campaign account is Democrat Richard Aguirre, who reports just over $14,000 in the bank.

--Anthony York