Well, that didn’t work out how we’d hoped, did it? But hope isn’t a strategy, nor is it often an accurate reflection of reality – it’s about as effective a plan as crossing your fingers or holding your breath as you drive past a cemetery. Republicans lost because they had bad candidates, a horrible strategy, no recent accomplishments and an unpopular President in the White House.

Am I saying this is all Donald Trump’s fault? Not at all. But he’s not blameless. I’d been saying Ken Paxton was an awful candidate since the jump; a Trump endorsement of John Cornyn likely could have prevented that failure. Cornyn was far from perfect, but someone who’d vote with you 90-95 percent of the time is always better than someone who never will, and now Texas has Senator Never.

I hate nepotism. One of the biggest problems in politics is how name recognition matters so much – it’s the only reason a lobbyist like Democrat Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-6) ends up in the House after her husband spent more than half a century in that same seat. She was hired to lobby because of who her husband was and slid into his seat when he was sliding out of it.

That Sen. Lindsey Graham died is sad, but that doesn’t make his sister qualified to be a Senator. She was eligible – being a citizen older than 30 – but qualified is different. Being appointed to finish the year is one thing; being nominated to serve a term of her own is another. They’re the difference between a kid who can’t swim walking into the shallow end of a pool and being shoved into the deep end. Darline Graham couldn’t swim and was on the high diving........

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