They're working at cross purposes. These factions are colliding in ways they didn't before.

Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Arafat are at cross-purposes here. Mr. Netanyahu wants to tell his people that he has achieved a better agreement, with much better safeguards for Israelis. But the more he brags about his own achievement, the less desirable this agreement becomes for Mr. Arafat. Unless the two sides can indeed make the political decision to reach an agreement despite their own internal political achievements, we won't have an agreement.

There are large national movements afoot about redistricting and union dues that are looking to this referendum ... for momentum, ... If either measure wins or loses, it will have dramatic consequences for whether these national movements move ahead or get stopped in their tracks.

A common focus is to curb the social cost of behavior of young people.

I think things are more confused now than in several years, and I think the reason is that the governor is vacillating on it. He's all for it, but he's not doing anything about it. I am certain that his behavior is at the center of the Twins' frustration.

If you can build a narrative around a series of seemingly related events, it becomes more compelling, and this narrative fits together very well for Democrats.