On The Gist, Mike wonders whether the "winner picked out of a bowl" antics in Virginia's House of Delegates will really matter much.

In the interview, former Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire has straightforward advice for candidates in blue-collar America: appeal to the center or lose out. Just as importantly, Altmire argues, the Democratic Party as a whole has to let them do it. Altmire's book is Dead Center: How Political Polarization Divided America and What We Can Do About It.

In the Spiel, Mike says the economy is looking up, and that means Republicans could keep their congressional majorities in the midterms ahead—barring a foreign policy disaster, of course.

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