Has it come to this: The image woes of top banks--the likes of Goldman Sachs and Bank of America--have spread to the entire financial services industry and even New York City. We're seeing this acutely in political races. Any connection with big banks and Wall Street is used to pillory candidates.

More than 200 candidates have run ads demonizing the financial industry or Wall Street, aiming to portray opponents as cronies, the New York Times reports. In one series of ads, photos of a Wall Street sign fade to scenes of big-spending fat-cat executives in Manhattan. Two ads are essentially inspired by the Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps movie. One goes so far as to quote Gordon Gekko from the original.

This is a far cry from the past, and what a change it is. The Times notes that Jon Corzine, formerly governor of New Jersey, not too long ago ran ads that touted his Wall Street and financial expertise.

The current ads demonizing Wall Street are unfair in certain ways. But political ads aren't known to be fair. What remains to be seen is whether they are effective. We'll know in November.

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