Pop quiz: Who got the most votes in the Republican primary the last time there was an open-seat race for governor eight years ago? The answer sheds some light on this year’s race.

The history of poison gas is, you might say, a rather vaporous subject. So much so, that a substantial portion of that history has been made in the past few months.

The legislative year hasn’t ended yet in a lot of states, and the evidence isn’t overwhelming. But based at least on the reduction in material they’ve provided late-night monologues, lawmakers around the country seem to be going about their business with significantly less posturing this election year.

Chances are you’ve read at least a little about the President’s father, Fred Trump. But the story of his grandfather, Freidrich, sheds a more interesting light on one of the main preoccupations of the Trump presidency.

Out of all the schools that have been shot up in this country, what was it about this one that has caused the reaction to differ from those in the past? The answer has to do with location, bandwith, and South Florida attitude.

This federal shutdown had a ratings problem, which is probably the reason it didn’t last long. We should be talking about this week’s government impasse as if it were a TV show, because at the most fundamental level that’s what it was.