MICHAEL BARONE: Democrats can take the House, if they just pick Conor Lamb over Hillary Clinton.

The pattern of Lamb’s narrow victory was similar to results in other special congressional and state legislative elections over the past year. Democratic turnout was robust, particularly in relatively upscale Pittsburgh suburbs. Republican turnout lagged, and some non-college whites who voted for Trump and Romney voted Democratic this time.

Evidently, downscale whites, whose trend toward Republicans started in the 1990s and was augmented with the Trump candidacy, are less firmly attached to one party than Trump-haters are to the other. This is in line with the skeptical response to any new policy change by either party, as evidenced by the negative responses to Obamacare when Barack Obama was in office and the negative response to Republicans’ “repeal and replace” once Trump became president.

Some observers argued that Saccone, like other Republican nominees in special elections, was a weak candidate. A better observation is that Lamb was a strong one. Nominated by party leaders, not in a primary, he has a family political pedigree (his uncle is Pittsburgh city controller) in a long-settled metro area where such ties are important.

And he took moderate positions on multiple issues. A former Marine, he ran an ad showing him shooting an AR-15 and said, “new gun laws aren’t the answer to preventing more mass shootings like the one at a Florida high school.” Early on, he pledged not to vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker (an issue which won’t come up until at least January 2019). While many Democrats are baying for impeachment, Lamb said, “We need the office of the presidency to succeed if we’re going to make any progress on these issues.”

Alternate take:

JOSH KRAUSHAAR: Democrats in Commanding Position to Win House.

At this point, there have been enough off-year elections, polling data, and candidate-recruiting successes to render a clear verdict: Democrats are solid favorites to retake the House this year. Conor Lamb’s performance in a conservative, blue-collar Pennsylvania congressional district is simply the latest evidence that the makings of a perfect political storm are in play for 2018: energized Democratic turnout, apathetic Republican engagement, and suburban independents (particularly women) running away from the GOP.

The race-by-race tally also suggests the potential of a significant Democratic wave. There are now a whopping 47 Republican-held House seats that are rated as vulnerable by The Cook Political Report; Democrats need to win only around half of them (24) to take back the majority. Pennsylvania’s new congressional map could easily net Democrats five or six seats in the state. Without a competitive gubernatorial and Senate race in California, seven GOP-held seats in the state are at risk of flipping. Those two states alone get Democrats halfway back to power.

I wouldn’t say that the Democrats’ position is “commanding,” but I have been saying for over a year now that I wish the GOP majority would legislate like there’s no tomorrow — because there might not be one.

Also, doing so would give skeptical GOP voters the enthusiasm to turn out in enough numbers to keep the House.

FROM WALTER OLSON AT OVERLAWYERED, a higher education roundup.

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS: Federal Court Upholds Gov. Abbott’s Sanctuary City Ban.

ELECTRIC LEMONS: Tesla employees say automaker is churning out a high volume of flawed parts requiring costly rework.

Tesla’s future as a mass-market carmaker hinges on efficient, automated production of the Model 3, which more than 400,000 people have already reserved, paying $1,000 refundable fees to do so. Musk said in July 2017 that Tesla would probably be making 20,000 Model 3s per month by December.

The company then later downgraded those expectations. It currently says it will make 2,500 per week by the end of this month and 5,000 per week by the end of June.

One current Tesla engineer estimated that 40 percent of the parts made or received at its Fremont factory require rework. The need for reviews of parts coming off the line, and rework, has contributed to Model 3 delays, the engineer said.

Another current employee from Tesla’s Fremont factory said the company’s defect rate is so high that it’s hard to hit production targets. Inability to hit the numbers is in turn hurting employee morale.

Not good — especially given that established automakers with centuries of cumulative experience in mass manufacturing are getting serious about electric vehicles.

LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE, OR THE UNPOPULAR: Clapper And Flynn: Is The Justice Department Adhering To A Double Standard On Perjury? Yes, yes it is.

PROCUREMENT: Lockheed F-35 Cost Stabilizes at $406 Billion, Pentagon Says.

The Pentagon’s estimated cost to develop and purchase Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet, the costliest U.S. weapons program, has stabilized for now, according to a new report to Congress.

The total acquisition cost for the advanced fighter is projected at $406.1 billion, virtually unchanged from the $406.5 billion estimated last year, according to the Defense Department’s latest Selected Acquisition Report, which will be sent to Congress this week. The projections were obtained in advance by Bloomberg News.

Within the total — which includes research, development and initial support such as spare parts and military construction — the estimated cost to procure 2,456 U.S. aircraft has ticked down to $345.4 billion from $346.1 billion, or a 0.2 percent decline.

A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, and pretty soon you’re talking real savings.

BILL WHITTLE: “The problem with California is Californians.”

SOMEONE SHOULD ASK NASHVILLE’S ACTING MAYOR DAVID BRILEY IF HE’S PROUD OF THEM: Tennessee students tear down American flag, jump on cop car during walkout.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: School shootings are not the new normal, despite statistics that stretch the truth.

Related: Lies, damned lies, and statistics about guns.

THOMAS PAINE GOT IT RIGHT: My weekly column at the Daily Caller is up, and it explains why we need a Federal Anti-SLAPP law to protect citizens speaking out against government actors and powerful interests. Because when you think about it, free speech is a core conservative value.

No less a figure than George Washington proclaimed in 1783 that “The freedom of Speech may be taken away—and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.”

As Glenn says: “Read the whole thing.”™

WELL, UNLESS IT WAS USEFUL FOR THE DEMOCRATS’ NARRATIVE: No one would accept, in any other national discussion, the level of ignorance seen in the gun debate.

No one would cheer if a pundit said it’s easier to get a late-term abortion than Sudafed. His audience would ask to see his homework. No one would shrug it off if a legislator incorrectly referred to a “trimester” as a “semester.” No one would ignore it if a pro-life senatorial candidate explained his position on abortions in cases of rape and incest with a response that included something about the human body rejecting “legitimate rape.”

Hell, no one would accept this level of ignorance from a traffic report. If a journalist referred to a pickup truck as an “auto-style speedbox,” he would rightly be laughed off the air.

Well, unless it was useful for the Democrats’ narrative.

A FEATURE, NOT A BUG: Florida’s 2018 Legislature was the least productive in two decades.

They misspelled “least harmful.”

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Fourteen Days.

The Red Line shoe is now on the other foot. By issuing a warning against infringing his freedom of action Putin has drawn a Red Line and Haley just threatened to cross it in the most public possible way. Radio Free Europe writes “the United States has said it is ready to act in Syria to end chemical attacks and “inhuman suffering” if Russia, Iran, and Syria continue to allegedly ignore a 30-day cease-fire approved by the United Nations, prompting a warning from Moscow that it will strike back if the lives of its servicemen are threatened”.

What Russia will do when the clock counts down remains to be seen. The US threat is both asymmetric and strategically calculating. The US has power dominance over Russia in Syria. In almost any scenario except the use of nuclear weapons or nerve gas, Russia is likely to be badly worsted in Syria. Striking at Assad and Iran will be supported by Saudi Arabia and Israel.

It is dangerous but also profoundly psychological. Vladimir Putin has now been threatened twice by women, Theresa May and Nikki Haley, even as stands for election as the Macho Man. The Kremlin strongman can hardly back down now without immense loss of face, which is perhaps the point. Putin is in a tight spot. He can either eat crow or roll the dice. His first reaction in past situations has been not to yield but double down. This will make the next two weeks extraordinarily dangerous. It’s a big data point. The administration has taken the risk.

Wait, I thought Trump was Putin’s puppet.

THE SUICIDE OF THE WEST (CONT’D): German Court Orders Volkswagen Rehire Suspected ISIS Recruiter Who Told Coworkers They’d ‘All Die.’

SUZANNE VENKER: The Sad Plight Of Hillary Clinton.

Most elite feminists have one thing in common: They’re lonely. They’re very, very lonely. It’s hard to go to sleep alone at night and wake up to a failed marriage, and to so much disdain for the country in which one lives. When you’ve spent your life being resentful of men, marriage, and motherhood, what else can one expect?

Women like Clinton have spent their entire adult lives hating the society in which they live and wanting to change it. They’ve spent their entire adult lives trying to convince other women to hate the society in which they live and wanting to change it. How exhausting.

So, after all that time, after all those decades of trying to get women to think as feminists do, imagine what it was like for Clinton to be rejected by more than half of the women who look like her (white). Even worse, she lost them to a white alpha male who (wisely) rejects the feminist label and who represents everything feminists have fought against for decades?

It’s hard for Clinton. It’s painful to accept that most white women do, in fact, think for themselves — which is why they don’t buy what feminists are selling. But to accept that is difficult, so it’s easier to believe such women subordinate themselves to the men in their lives. After all, that’s the message Clinton and her allies have been selling for years. We can’t expect them to give up their life’s work and surrender their beliefs just because most people don’t share them.

Sad, but true.

AT AMAZON, spring deals on Gas Grills.

Also, shop the Pressure Washer Buying Guide.

MAYBE NEW YORK SHOULD BE SPLIT UP: “A federal jury in Manhattan did more than convict one-time gubernatorial uber-confidant Joseph Percoco on felony corruption charges—it also delivered a damning verdict on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s stunningly ineffective upstate economic policies.”

YES, I THINK SO: Is Tennessee’s New Enhanced Posttenure Performance Review Policy An Attack On Tenure?

GOTCHER TRUMP 2020 VIDEO RIGHT HERE: Disgusting Video Emerges of Nashville-Area Students Ripping Down an American Flag, Brawling During ‘Protest’ Against Gun Violence.

I should note that Nashville Mayor David Briley (who replaced the disgraced Megan Barry) says he’s proud of the Nashville protesters. I asked him about these particular protesters on Twitter, but haven’t gotten a reply.

SO AMY WAX CRITICIZED PENN’S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY ON BLOGGINGHEADS WITH GLENN LOURY, and Penn has banned her from teaching 1Ls. Glenn Loury calls this bullshit, and he’s right.

UPDATE: For months, Penn Law has resisted calls to punish Amy Wax for her public comments on race. Yesterday, they caved. Maybe the Department of Education should look into this.

VICTORY GIRLS: Sacramento Bee: Trump “Isn’t Seeing the Real California” (And Neither Are We!).

The worst problem of all– way worse than soaring rents, the high cost of living, unreliable police, ridiculous taxes, less-than-optimal public transit, and laws that hamstring businesses and individuals in the name of liberal ideology– is the trifecta of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction that affects people who live on the streets.

To give you an idea: this past Monday, I was walking down the entrance stairway to the Civic Center BART station, and on my way down, I walked in between two homeless men as one passed a crack pipe to the other. They made zero effort to conceal the pipe because it’s just normal in that area of town to do hard drugs out in the open. And several days ago, when my husband and I went to the public library downtown, we saw several plastic pieces that had come off of hypodermic needles laying around. My husband has seen people shooting up before. He once saw someone defecating in the street. I’ve seen someone smoking a pipe in the street. I’ve seen a pregnant woman smoking cigarettes on the street. One time, I saw someone pee on the side of a building downtown, and their bag was laying in the middle of their pee stream as it ran into the street, so when they finished doing their business and picked up their bag, it was dripping urine as they walked away.

Kamala Harris says California is America’s future. And it is, if America winds up being run by Democrats.

HERE’S YOUR OPEN THREAD: Make it your best yet.

THE HITS KEEP COMING: United Flies Passenger’s Dog To Japan By Mistake.