The scene hinted at modern-day political fable: "Mr Smith Goes to Washington," launched by a rocket of YouTube fame.

A young, ambitious candidate in a suit jacket and jeans stood on a stump in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, surrounded by 50 people cheering and filming on their iPhones as he laid out his vision for California.

Radiating the magnetic appeal that boosted his YouTube channel to 1.7 million followers, Kevin Paffrath dispensed with his usual financial advice to pitch himself as an unlikely recall candidate that voters can take for a gubernatorial test drive.

"Shouldn't all politicians have a one-year trial?" he asked. "Kick them out when they suck, right?"

Paffrath spends several hours a day recording videos from his Ventura County home, drives a Tesla plastered with a giant picture of his face and has never held elected office. And, through various quirks of an unlikely recall season, there is a chance this 29-year-old running on a "Stop the bullship" slogan could be California's next governor.

With no prominent Democrats running to replace Governor Gavin Newsom, Paffrath has become the de facto choice for a quotient of party faithful who oppose the recall but still want to mark their ballots with a Democratic backup candidate.

"I don't think he's a good choice. I just think he's a slightly better choice than [Larry] Elder or a blank answer," said Elaine Loh, a Los Angeles writer who voted for Paffrath.

In a race packed with longshot entrants, Paffrath's unlikely candidacy was propelled to the mainstream - or at least the fringes of the mainstream - in early August, when results from a SurveyUSA poll pegged him as the leading replacement candidate, with 27% support.

Paffrath has offered plenty of audacious and occasionally far-fetched plans for California - the list includes legalising gambling, creating a network of free, trade school-like "future schools," building a water pipeline from the Mississippi River and ending homelessness within 60 days of taking office.

Paffrath's Mississippi River pipeline proposal drew buzz when he pitched it during an early debate, along with derision from water experts, who dismissed it as an implausible solution that would also be prohibitively expensive.

Speaking a week after the debate, Paffrath said he still liked the idea, but also conceded that it might not be feasible.

The point, he said, was to ask the big questions that get people talking about big solutions.

"Look, I don't have all the access to all the water departments and all the water professionals," Paffrath said, adding that if he won, his team would do all the research necessary to make their plans a logistical reality.

"And if something is a bad idea, we're not going to do it," he said. "We're not stupid."

 - dpa