A Democrat talking about Mamdani: “If you went into a laboratory and tried to create a candidate whose positions were so extreme and radical and unpopular outside of deeply blue places that Republicans could weaponize it, that’s what it would look like.” wsj.com/politics/elect…

New Jersey Is Top Spot for 2025 Campaign Ad Spending With $139 Million: wsj.com/livecoverage/e…

AP alert: FAA announces 10% reduction in airline traffic in 40 markets to maintain safety during ongoing government shutdown.

ICYMI yesterday: Burger King is struggling with change. Specifically, pennies. By ⁦⁦Heather Haddon⁩ wsj.com/business/burge…

Eric and Charlene May have 14 credit cards for which they pay about $2,600 in annual fees. To make sure they come out ahead, they diligently update a color-coded Google Sheet as they redeem the cards’ dining, travel and shopping credits. By Imani wsj.com/personal-finan…

A campaign for Guam to become the 51st U.S. state has some momentum, by Mike Cherney wsj.com/world/guam-us-…

U.S. elections are sending a consistent message: Americans are deeply frustrated with their government’s inability to solve problems. wsj.com/politics/elect…

Nalin Haley, the 24-year-old son of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, is sounding more MAGA than his mama. wsj.com/politics/elect…

Always read Greg Ip: The affordability crisis can’t be captured by macroeconomic measures. It is an amalgam of microeconomic irritants that vary by individual, time and place. wsj.com/economy/everyo…

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Gov. Andy Beshear, the unwavering Democrat who has repeatedly won in Trump country, says some in his party need to talk more like “normal human beings.” wsj.com/politics/andy-…

In 2026, Beshear will be spending a fair bit of time around Democratic donors sipping Kentucky bourbon and other cocktails as he raises money for the DGA. Asked his three favorite bourbons, he diplomatically answers: “The one in my hand.” wsj.com/politics/andy-…

Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the airline system to skip the lines; ‘That’s some good healing right there!’ wsj.com/lifestyle/trav…

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin has reversed course on his pledge to publicly release a detailed review of his party’s mistakes in the 2024 presidential election, arguing it would be a distraction ahead of next year’s midterm campaign. wsj.com/politics/elect…

CHICAGO—Gov. JB Pritzker is expected to cruise to an easy victory in the March 17 Democratic primary in Illinois as he seeks a third term. The party’s U.S. Senate primary might give him heartburn. wsj.com/politics/elect…

The ad spending so far has been one-sided, to say the least...

By ⁦Connor Hart⁩ wsj.com/lifestyle/trav…

Senators elected this fall will find that Social Security’s future insolvency is their problem, Richard Rubin reports: wsj.com/politics/polic…

MINNEAPOLIS—The massive welfare-fraud scandal in Minnesota dogging Gov. Tim Walz as he seeks re-election in a state that has prided itself on good governance is giving Republicans a potent line of attack against a critic of President Trump. wsj.com/politics/polic…

“This administration has turned Minnesota Nice into Minnesota incompetent and now voters are understandably Minnesota mad,” former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said.

Minnesota, native state of the late Peanuts comic-strip creator Charles Schulz, has been a bit like Charlie Brown and the football for Republicans in recent years. They often take a run at trying to win in the blue-leaning state, but no Republican has done so statewide since 2006