MORE THAN a quarter of Virginia’s electorate considers itself Republican, which translates to almost 1 million voters. Of that number, about 8,000 — less than 1 percent — showed up at the party’s convention in Richmond over the weekend to choose the GOP candidates in this November’s races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

IN THE DAYS of the Soviet Union, street maps of Moscow did not exist for most citizens, or they were deliberately misleading. In fact, the very best Moscow map was created by the CIA, and it was treasured by diplomats, journalists and spies. It was a spiral-bound wonder that could rescue you from almost any dead end.

CONGRESS HAS ONLY begun working on student loans this year, and already it’s going better than last year’s debacle.

Election-year politics drove Congress and the White House to endorse a bumper-sticker policy — keep loan rates from doubling! — instead of looking at the substance. Lawmakers rushed to extend a 3.4 percent rate on certain new loans instead of allowing the rate to revert back to 6.8 percent. That doesn’t sound bad to borrowers, but it reflects the weird fact that those loan rates aren’t pegged to anything real, just to the whims of Congress, which inevitably uses student loans as political playthings.