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SAN JOSE — The first GOP gubernatorial debate left the landscape of the campaign essentially unchanged, analysts said, leaving the candidates six more weeks before the March 5 primary to sway voters. 

“There’s very little chance that the debate changed anything,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. 

“None of the candidates made a stroke of genius, none of the candidates made a disastrous gaffe — and I doubt very many people watched the debate in the first place.” 

Tuesday night’s face-off was the first of three among Secretary of State Bill Jones, ex-Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon, a former federal prosecutor. It was televised statewide from California State University, San Jose. 

The moderate Riordan leads by large margins in polls, and before the debate speculation centered on whether he would commit a gaffe, as he’s been known to do. He didn’t. 

“Since he didn’t lose it, that means he won it,” said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which tracks political races. 

That leaves the candidates where they started — faced with relying mostly on costly television advertisements to catch voters’ eyes. 

Riordan and Simon, both independently wealthy, have an advantage there. Jones is lagging in funding and is the only one of the three who hasn’t started running ads. 

“This is still a campaign to get the public’s attention there’s an election in March,” said Republican analyst Tony Quinn, noting that past primaries have come in June. 

“I think what you’re going to find, more than in any election we’ve had for a long time, is they’re just going to have to pour it on in the media to get people’s attention.” 

The winner of the primary will take on Democratic incumbent Gray Davis in November. 

The Jones and Simon camps contended the morning after the debate that Republican primary voters tend to be conservative, and that’s who they impressed Tuesday night. 

Simon pledged during the debate not to raise taxes, Jones emphasized his record and experience as the only statewide elected Republican, and Riordan repeatedly pledged to hire strong managers and “empower” them. Jones and Simon emphasized their Republican beliefs, while Riordan didn’t budge from his moderate stances on abortion and other issues. 

“The people who were watching this debate very closely were the people who will be high-propensity voters,” said Jones strategist Sean Walsh, “and in that, Bill Jones achieved what he needed to, which is continue to raise doubts about Riordan’s Republican credentials.” 

“The conservative voters out there who were watching — they weren’t looking to see whether or not Dick Riordan would stumble over his words, they were looking to see who was most in tune with them,” said Simon strategist Jeff Flint. 

Not all political experts agreed with that analysis. Republican primary voters are not necessarily ideological, and for many the top goal is to oust Davis, said Quinn. 

“I don’t think the issue of Riordan’s having given money to lots of Democrats as of yet has had much impact with the ordinary Republican voter,” Quinn said. “Their first priority is a general dislike of Davis.”