A Storm Visit Becomes a Campaign Optics Test After a tornado tore through Detroit’s East Side last Wednesday and caused extensive damage, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed went to the area the next day and posted that he was there to assess damage and check on the community. He also wrote that power would likely be out for a while and argued for burying power lines and strengthening the grid. That is a serious subject. But in politics, the camera is never just a camera. It is also a truth serum for campaign staff, message discipline, and whatever committee approved the outfit before anyone said, perhaps gently, maybe not that. https://twitter.com/AbdulElSayed/status/2095982708950188445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The Pink Poncho Takes Center Stage On Saturday, former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt shared a photo of El-Sayed standing next to a much taller man while wearing the same pink poncho. Pratt claimed there must be a “mole” inside the campaign trying to sabotage him, pointing out that it appeared to be only drizzling and that others nearby were not wearing ponchos. Leave it to modern politics to turn storm recovery into a wardrobe audit. The more useful question is not about height, which no candidate controls,…

Passenger Identified After Midair Restraint The passenger duct-taped to his seat on American Airlines Flight 618 has been identified as Arthur Layne Lundeen, 67, a Tucson realtor listed as an associate broker and vice president-level member of Long Realty’s Tanque Verde team. The flight was traveling from Dallas to Newark on Thursday night when it diverted to Baltimore/Washington International. The diversion came after a passenger was accused of assaulting other passengers and using racial slurs, including calling a flight attendant the n-word. Air travel already has enough indignities without turning the cabin into a rolling city council meeting with worse snacks. Witnesses Describe A Cabin Meltdown Witnesses Juan Mejia and Richard Olenick, who helped hold the man, told CBS the passenger two rows behind them became belligerent toward American Airlines staff and other passengers. Mejia said the man used racial slurs, anti-gay insults, and vulgar language aimed at women. Mejia said he moved into the next seat to help contain him after the situation escalated. According to The New York Times, Lundeen struggled, yelled that the plane was going down, and bit Mejia’s hand before a flight attendant handed over tape. Mejia then wrapped the tape around the man’s body,…