CONGRESS/ELECTION/GOP/PAUL RYAN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Alone, no single retirement can do much to shift the national race for House control. But after a year full of them, it seems Republicans can’t afford too many more. Each new departure, including the retirement of House Speaker Paul Ryan, narrows the Republican path to retain the House. That path is getting so narrow that it increasingly seems to hinge on one — very real — possibility: the chance that the long-awaited Democratic wave simply won’t materialize. And while that’s certainly possible, all of the conditions for a wave seem to be in place. Two years ago, the Republicans had another way to win. They could ride out a wave election, like those in 2006 or 2010, by relying on their considerable structural advantages to overcome a deeply unfavorable national political environment. But today those Republican advantages are greatly diminished.”
-Nate Cohn, “How Retirements Like Paul Ryan’s Are Shrinking Republicans’ Built-In Advantage in the House,” The New York Times online, April 11, 2018