There are some things that a political candidate just can't prepare for.

The San Francisco Chronicle today published a top-of-the-page, boldly headlined obituary of Susan B. Jordan, an activist attorney from Ukiah who perished in a plane crash last Friday. The obituary was accompanied by a two-column photograph of Susan Jordan standing on a pier.

Unfortunately, the woman in the photograph is Susan Jordan, the environmental activist and Democratic Assembly candidate from Santa Barbara, not the deceased woman of the same name.

The mistake created an awkward challenge for the campaign: How do you delicately bring to people's attention that the candidate is still alive?

The press release from the campaign struck just the right tone. It began: "The Susan Jordan for Assembly in 2010 campaign wishes to extend its condolences to the family of Susan B. Jordan, a Ukiah lawyer killed in a plane crash on Friday."

From there, it went on to explain the situation.

The Chronicle, by the way, has since placed a photo of the actual deceased on its Web site.