Free Republic

Stacey Abrams is running a less-than-subtle campaign to be Joe Biden’s vice-presidential running mate. Republicans should hope she succeeds. If selected, she would displace Sarah Palin as the least-qualified person ever to serve on a major-party ticket. Biden should understand this, because he saw firsthand how much damage Palin’s selection did to then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. Preelection polls showed that 6 out of 10 Americans said Palin was not qualified for the job, and a Stanford University study found that she cost McCain more than 2 million votes.

President Donald Trump is an influential figure all over the 2018 Senate map. The problem for Republicans: He doesn't seem interested in using his power for the party's good. From labeling a top Democratic target a "good woman" to tacitly approving of his former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's aggressive courtship of Republicans to run in the primary against sitting senators, the Trump factor is proving problematic as midterm election season heats up. Here's a look, more than a year out, at the 10 Senate seats most likely to switch parties in the November 2018 midterms:

So much for stealth candidates. So much for conciliation. In nominating U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. of the Third Circuit to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush has chosen a far-right jurist with a well developed and well known record. In the process, Bush has exacerbated the nation's culture wars, setting off what is likely to be a long and ugly confirmation battle in Washington and around the nation. Alito, whose legal opinions have earned him the nickname "Scalito" because they mirror those of the conservative Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, has...