Sherman jokes that deleting mom was a media ploy

The Howard Berman camp's hope to make some hay (or votes) out of the Brad Sherman camp photo-shopping the congressman's mom out of a campaign mailer feels like a stretch. I'm not convinced it's that kind of vote-moving gaffe, if it's a gaffe at all. The Berman side also seems to think that Sherman's explanation to Dave Bryan of CBS/KCAL is a serious moment of light-weightedness.

I don't agree. Yes, it's a different account than Sherman flack John Schwada tells. That's because Sherman is deflecting the issue by poking fun at the media for obsessing about his mom. And I say that as the reporter who was, I believe, the first to publish the mailers with and without mom last week. The reporter for The Hill observes that Sherman "didn't seem to be joking in the video." Well, it actually reminds me of Sherman's 2006 appearance on "The Colbert Report" playing along as Stephen Colbert spoofs the Valley's reputation for porn. Maybe the guy just has a dry sense of humor.

The Berman-Sherman election in the Valley is June 5. Then they get (probably) to reboot and do it all again for November.