| As it worries about a world war, the U.S. government has been extremely careful not to stir up things with Russia even more than they already are. And that's an ongoing challenge for President Biden, who talked again today about war crimes. Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. He was responding to the death and devastation Russian forces left behind as they pulled back recently from around Kyiv, Ukraine. (That link has some disturbing photos.) "This guy is brutal, and what's happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone's seen it," Biden told reporters Monday, adding, "I think it is a war crime."  A memorial on Monday outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, honors those killed in Bucha, Ukraine. (Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty Images) | Biden has already accused Putin once before of being a war criminal. And that time, he got out ahead of the U.S. government's official line on whether Russia committed war crimes. The first time Biden called Putin a war criminal, the State Department said it was still investigating whether it could say that. Shortly after, the United States said it did find that Russian forces committed war crimes. Today, the Pentagon said the apparent massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, "reinforces" the evidence that Russian forces have committed war crimes. Biden didn't go as far as other world leaders and say this was a genocide. A step back: Whether the United States thinks Russia committed war crimes probably won't change much about the war in Russia; there are already international investigations going on. If those determine Putin is a war criminal, it will mostly be a symbolic declaration for the history books. But: Some feel Biden keeps getting out ahead of his government on what to say about what's happening in Ukraine. "I think it is premature," Mark Cancian, a senior military adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of Biden's war-crime comment today. "Because we know so little about the facts on the ground. War crimes need to be investigated thoroughly before a judgment is rendered." (And legally, there's a very high bar for war crimes.) Where this really mattered was when Biden got way out ahead of U.S. policy last week when he said Putin can't stay in power. He argued he wasn't calling for regime change in Russia, even though that's what it sounded like he was saying. ("For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.") That's the kind of language that could — actually, has — made things worse with Russia at a precarious time. A state you should know more about ahead of the midterms: Alaska  Sarah Palin and Donald Trump in 2016. (Mary Altaffer/AP) | One of the most well-known politicians in America, Alaska's Sarah Palin, is running for office again. The Republican former governor, former vice-presidential nominee and political celebrity on the right is now running for Congress. But Palin is far from a given to win a House seat, even though she has former president Donald Trump's endorsement. And that's just one of the reasons Alaska is such a politically interesting state to watch this year. Here are three: 1. Palin is going to test Trump's endorsement in a big way She is the highest-profile candidate he's gotten behind. But she could lose. There are 50 candidates running for Alaska's one House seat, which is open for the first time in nearly 50 years after the death of longtime Republican congressman Don Young last month. Palin last held office in Alaska in 2009, when she resigned as governor. Politico reports that her resignation left a bad taste in voters' mouths. She also recently lost a libel trial against the New York Times, and Fox News cut its contract with her years ago. 2. Trump is trying to take a Republican senator from Alaska out of politics Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted to impeach Trump for the Jan. 6 invasion, and since then she's been his No. 1 target. She's up for reelection this year, and he endorsed another Republican, Kelly Tshibaka, in a state that voted for him over Biden by 10 points. But Murkowski is still competitive, in part for the third and final reason that Alaska is so interesting: 3. Alaskans will rank their choices to represent them In 2020, Alaskans approved a new voting system: Instead of a Republican primary and Democratic primary, politicians will run in an all-party primary, and the top four go to the general election. In the general, Alaskans rank their choices, one to four. If one candidate doesn't get a majority of the vote, the No. 4 candidate is eliminated and their voters' choices for second, third and fourth are added to the other candidates' tallies. And on it goes until one candidate has a winner. This is called ranked-choice voting, and advocates hope it can take some of the extreme partisanship out of politics. It rewards candidates who reach out to a diverse group of voters, rather than just one partisan group. That could weaken far-right candidates in Alaska, such as Palin or Tshibaka, and strengthen more-moderate candidates, such as Murkowski. Maine and New York City have also adopted it. | 
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