THE WAR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BRIEF. THE MIDTERMS WERE NOT | Six months in, fuel pain is the campaign

Six months after the strikes began, the war that was supposed to be brief has become the midterm calendar’s permanent weather. Fuel pain is now the commute, the delivery fee, and the school pickup. Al Jazeera’s Iran coverage and the Los Angeles Times’ reporting on the midterms describe the same squeeze: an overseas promise of a quick finish colliding with voters’ long memory of emptying tanks and grocery carts. Washington can call the war temporary. Drivers are pricing it as policy, and the midterms will count the months. Sources: Al Jazeera; Los Angeles Times.