6 Questions That May Decide the 2016 Election

From Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal, "Some important unknown answers loom large over an already contentious and historic presidential campaign":

Every­one already knows the struggle for con­trol of the White House will be the biggest do­mest­ic story of 2016. The cam­paign has already gen­er­ated re­cord tele­vi­sion rat­ings and vol­can­ic erup­tions of vit­ri­ol. By Novem­ber, it is likely to be­come the most ex­pens­ive polit­ic­al race ever. Already, it is un­like any cam­paign Amer­ic­ans have seen be­fore. But, as the song says, some fun­da­ment­al things ap­ply.

Pres­id­en­tial elec­tions are shaped by the col­li­sion of long-term na­tion­al trends and short-term polit­ic­al tac­tics. This year will be no ex­cep­tion. Some of the key ques­tions that will de­term­ine which party takes the pres­id­ency will be settled with­in the polit­ic­al sys­tem it­self; oth­ers will turn on events bey­ond the cam­paign. For me, six ques­tions, drawn from both cat­egor­ies, seem most likely to de­cide the out­come...

Well, for me, I expect national security to be perhaps the decisive issue of the campaign, and could very well decide the election.

But continue reading Brownstein.