Yes, just thought this is a pep8 requirement. Refer to http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
"
When binding caught exceptions to a name, prefer the explicit name binding syntax added in Python 2.6:
```
try:
    process_data()
except Exception as exc:
    raise DataProcessingFailedError(str(exc))
```
This is the only syntax supported in Python 3, and avoids the ambiguity problems associated with the older comma-based syntax.
"