What a gift the city of Bell pay scandal has been for Democrat Jerry Brown. Instead of actually buying campaign advertisements for his gubernatorial race, the attorney general can investigate the excessive salaries in that tiny city and tell California voters it’s outrageous what public officials were being paid.

It’s an election year, and Democratic Rep. Dennis Cardoza’s intense criticism of the Obama Administration’s handling of the foreclosure crisis is being viewed by critics in his conservative congressional district as political gamesmanship. There’s undoubtedly some electioneering going on, but the Merced Democrat is not wrong about the inept way the administration has handled people seeking help to keep their homes out of foreclosure. The federal programs have been absolute failures, and only the banks have benefited.

The fine art of repackaging candidates for the next election is nothing new in politics. But have you ever seen candidates run from their records as blatantly as Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman have been doing since the June primary? It’s like they’ve hired stunt doubles for this political makeover.

Most of us regularly complain about our candidates for governor in California, but is there any state that offers more entertainment at election time?