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Canada Bets Trump Will Blink First

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President Trump’s attempt to strong-arm Canada into a new trade agreement has instead pushed the two countries toward a full-blown trade war.

That’s a dangerous development for both sides. The Canadian and American economies are deeply intertwined, with enormous amounts of goods, energy and investment crossing the border every day.

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No Better Than a Coin Flip

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President Trump’s endorsement record in governor’s races looks strong at first glance.

But it looks far less dominant once the easy wins are stripped away.

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Another Expensive Miscalculation by National Democrats

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Angie Nixon’s upset victory in Florida’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary surprised almost everyone.

Almost everyone except, apparently, Angie Nixon.

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Alaska’s Senate Seat Is In Play

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Alaska’s Senate race suddenly looks a lot more interesting.

With roughly 80% of the ballots counted, Mary Peltola (D) was running more than five points — and nearly 8,000 votes — ahead of Sen. Dan Sullivan (R).

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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The Fake Poll Problem

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We learned this week that a new poll showed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) with a comfortable lead in her re-election bid.

Bass’ campaign was understandably pleased with the result.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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The Seven-State Battle for Senate

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Republicans hold a 53-to-47 Senate majority—and the vice president breaks ties in their favor.

That means Democrats must flip at least four seats, not three, to take control of the upper chamber.

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Why Attacking Democrats as Communists Won’t Work

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Karl Rove has some advice for Republicans worried about the midterms: Stop calling every Democrat a communist.

Instead, he argues, Republicans should use Democrats’ own words against them.

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Four Lessons from the Democratic Primaries

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The news media loves a simple story about the Democratic Party: the socialists are taking over.

The primary results so far tell a much more complicated story.

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A Playbook for Progressives

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Money can buy a lot in a Democratic primary. But it can’t necessarily buy credibility with Democratic voters.

Minnesota’s Senate primary offered the latest example.

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Another Warning Sign for Republicans

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One of the more interesting numbers from last night’s primaries came from Minnesota.

Roughly 677,000 voters participated in the Democratic Senate primary, compared with just 404,000 in the Republican primary — a stunning 67% turnout advantage for Democrats.

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The Extraordinary Ruse to Protect Trump

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The Washington Post’s extraordinary scoop about President Trump secretly switching planes because of an Iranian assassination threat is remarkable.

But one detail stands out, even if it seems ordinary: Trump lied about what was happening.

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Ask Political Wire: The Tradeoffs of Ranked-Choice Voting

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A Political Wire reader asks about the pros and cons of ranked-choice voting — and, more importantly, who benefits from it.

The basic idea is straightforward: Instead of choosing one candidate, voters rank them in order of preference. If nobody wins a majority, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots are redistributed to the voters’ next choices. The process continues until someone wins.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Mike Johnson May Finally Get a Manageable Caucus

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For more than a decade, every Republican House speaker has faced the same problem: the biggest threat to their leadership came from within their own conference.

John Boehner battled the Tea Party. Paul Ryan never fully tamed the Freedom Caucus. Kevin McCarthy was ultimately toppled by members of his own party.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Judging a Book by Its Cover

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At first glance, Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) new book, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents, looks like it might be a genuine act of political courage.

In an era when few Republicans are willing to challenge Donald Trump, a senator writing about the costs of standing up to a president sounds refreshingly unusual.

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The Democratic Civil War That Never Happened

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For months, the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan was framed as a looming civil war — a proxy fight over the party’s future that would leave deep scars.

Instead, it ended with something much less dramatic: Democrats acting like a political party.

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A Candidate Who Wasn’t Running Won Anyway

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One of the strangest primary results of the cycle came this week in Michigan.

Navy veteran Amir Hassan (R) had the backing of President Trump, Republican leaders and the advantages that usually come with establishment support.

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Bill Lee Defies Trump Again

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It’s not often that a prominent Republican openly defies Donald Trump. It’s even rarer when it’s the same Republican doing it twice.

On the eve of Tennessee’s primary, Gov. Bill Lee (R) endorsed a conservative challenger to embattled Rep. Andy Ogles (R), directly undercutting Trump’s preferred candidate.

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Money Can’t Buy This Election

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Money is still flooding into American politics. But it may not be buying what it used to.

Much of this year’s political analysis has focused on the Democratic Party’s ideological divisions. That’s a real story.

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Talking Points is my analysis of the political landscape, written only for Political Wire members.

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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