My wheeze is back after a brief respite, but I’m not virtually infectious.

Here are some midday news/views lozenges:

* Healthcare.gov crashed for several hours this morning, but this time, it does appear spiking demand rather than “bugs” caused the crash.

* Ross Douthat warns conservatives they can no longer count on an implosion of Obamacare that makes developing an alternative unnecessary.

* Salon‘s Joan Walsh weighs in on Team Christie’s “blame Bridget” strategy for Bridgegate.

* California farmers becoming most adamant supporters of immigration reform as labor pool shrinks.

* Obama to endorse Schatz over Hanabusa in Hawaii Senate primary.

And in non-political news:

* Ronan Farrow’s new show on MSNBC reportedly sinking fast due to terrible ratings.

As we break for lunch, here’s Otis Rush with “I Can’t Quit You Baby.”

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.