Mr. Obama, Meet Mr. Obama’s FBI.

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(Photo by ERIK S. LESSER / AFP via Getty Images)

Former presidents have one big advantage over the rest of us. When they speak, people assume they’ve done the homework. So when Barack Obama broke his long, comfortable silence this month to defend Rep. Ilhan Omar, it landed. He called the Trump administration’s investigation into her “so appalling.” He said the full weight of the federal government was crashing down on a law-abiding congresswoman because she’d dared to criticize the president. He told Americans they should be outraged. Strong words, delivered with the cool authority of a man defending a principle. Then came Thursday. The New York Times reported that

What’s in a Name? In Alaska, Maybe a Crime.

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(Photo by Eloise BRETHES / AFP via Getty Images)

Politics has always had its tricks. The misleading mailer, the dawn robocall, the rumor started at the diner counter. But it takes a particular kind of nerve to go looking for a man whose main qualification for the U.S. Senate is his name. According to the New York Times, that’s what people around Mary Peltola’s campaign did. On Wednesday night, Alaska’s Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, ordered an investigation into whether criminal charges or civil penalties should be brought over alleged Democratic efforts to confuse voters by recruiting a Senate candidate with the same name as GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan. The

The Running Mate Moves On, Tossing Kamala Under the Bus.

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(Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

In politics, the tell is often what someone leaves out. A week before the midterms, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sat down for an interview that aired on C-SPAN. He was asked to give the national Democratic Party some advice. He answered right away: “Pick Pete Buttigieg.” He didn’t mention Kamala Harris, the woman who pulled him out of St. Paul and put him on a national ticket two years ago. He didn’t add a polite line about her service or nod to the campaign they ran together. He gave one name, and it wasn’t hers. There’s an irony here. Harris

Eight Days Out, Ilhan Omar Picks Her Company.

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(Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

Eight days before an election, everything a politician does sends a message: where she shows up, who she sits next to, and what she lets slide. On Monday night in Minneapolis, Rep. Ilhan Omar made her choices, and they told you a lot. The setting was a sold-out event called “I’m The Host Now!”, the first show from state Sen. Omar Fateh, the socialist who ran for mayor of Minneapolis and lost. Sharing the stage was Hasan Piker, the Twitch streamer best known for saying America “deserved” 9/11. Piker gave his crowd what it came for. “I’m not even gonna

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