By Brent Cunningham The slow-moving tragedy of whales becoming entangled, often fatally, in the fishing lines used by lobster and crab fishermen gets a fair amount of media coverage.

The Armed Services YMCA in Harker Heights, Texas, is a state-of-the-art facility, with a swimming pool, gym and coffee shop.

In a normal midterm cycle, this race, in a bright red state, might be nothing more than a political footnote: Anyone with an ...