I’m horrified by the recent comment John Kerry made. He made a huge error of judgment. But the people who gave him a microphone and platform to deliver his error made the bigger error.

Is this really the best the Democrats could come up with?

Maybe the problem is the people who run for office are a particular personality, a sort who wear mirrored sunglasses with the mirrors facing in.

Locally, there is a new development in my state’s race. Remember the big gubernatorial recall? Schwarzenegger ousted Gray Davis.

In California, the lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor. The lieutenant governor during all that time was Cruz Bustamante. Bustamante is not running for lieutenant governor again. This time he’s running for insurance commissioner. This would be cause for a very large yawn, except for one thing — Cruz B. has lost weight.

Weight loss is a personal triumph. Good for him. But it’s a personal triumph, nothing to do with politics. Except he has run some campaign ads trumpeting this accomplishment. They begin with the words, “I was really fat.”

I had no current knowledge of Cruz B. when I heard that ad. But I was caught up short with this unusual and utterly absurd campaign.

I was trying to talk to my co-workers about this ridiculousness, and I couldn’t remember what office he was running for. No problem, I’ll just look up Cruz Bustamante on Google, and his campaign web page should pop right up.

This is what popped up: Start With Cruz

But there's no political material anywhere on this site — it’s a diet and exercise site!

Here’s my thought: Cruz B. doesn’t want to be insurance commissioner. He wants to be the Richard Simmons of the new millennium. And he is spending his political war chest money on this website to start the marketing.