Harry Reid's recent summation of his tight Senate race with Tea Party upstart Sharron Angle—"But for the economy, there wouldn't be a contest here"—reminds me a lot of former DC Mayor Marion Barry's most famous pronouncement: "Outside of the killings, DC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."
In other words, that's a mighty big "But for," Mr. Reid.
-Cord Jefferson is a staff writer at The Root. Follow him on Twitter.