Colorado's gubernatorial race could hardly be more surreal. Fiscal policy? Water resources? Health and education? These are the issues that will occupy the next governor but they have faded into the woodwork as Bob Beauprez' attack ad fiasco has commanded center stage.

Congressman Beauprez called a news conference late last week to discuss the mysterious material that he used in an ad blasting Bill Ritter.

Beauprez preaches accountability and judgment, and so we expected him to accept responsibility for a messy episode that has spiraled into an FBI investigation of one of his campaign supporters. Instead, Beauprez blamed Ritter for the predicament faced by the unidentified man he would describe only as "our source."

Beauprez praised the mystery man - even while acknowledging "he broke the law" to advance a partisan political agenda. He called the fellow courageous. That's pure fantasy. Beauprez's super-secret source wasn't exactly providing cover for his buddies in a unit patrolling Baghdad (or the border with Mexico). No, he was dishing out information for a GOP attack ad.

"By exposing the truth, he broke the law," Beauprez said of "our source." Others have identified "our source" as Cory Voorhis, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who, to benefit Beauprez, may have illegally accessed the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. However it happened, Beauprez ended up with confidential law enforcement information about one Carlos Estrada Medina, a criminal who received a plea bargain from Ritter (and, separately, from prosecutors in two other states). After he was released in Denver, Medina may have committed a sex crime in California - under an alias that was exposed in a NCIC file.

Beauprez calls his source "a conscientious member of law enforcement" and says, "Now Bill Ritter is demanding to know his name so he can destroy this person." Beauprez said, "Our source performed a great act of courage and public service by bringing this story to the public domain."

If "our source" ends up in trouble, it will be because investigators believe he broke the law. Beauprez used him for political advantage and now ought to be telling voters (and the FBI) how his campaign came to receive the attack ad material.

Beauprez has accepted no responsibility for this attack-ad fiasco. He told The Denver Post last Thursday that he hadn't even heard of the NCIC before now. Yet on Sunday, Rep. Beauprez was located among the sponsors of a bill to bolster the penalties for its misuse. Surreal.