American Partisanship, From Sports to Disease This is the time of year when this expatriate most acutely misses the American homeland, where nature is staging one of the most spectacular color shows on earth and the greatest of sports follow in exhilarating succession. True, it was possible in Paris - or most anywhere else with Wi-Fi - to watch the relentless "Mad Bum" lead the San Francisco Giants to another World Series crown, and I did wake up the neighbors as Colt McCoy, in his first start with the Washington What's-their-skins, led them to a stunning overtime upset of the Dallas Cowboys. But it's not the same without fiery foliage, a pumpkin waiting to be messily eviscerated and endless commercials for pickup trucks. A fall fixture that is not so missed is the political messages covering lawns, billboards and bumpers every two years. With the midterm elections focused disproportionately on fringe voters, campaign ads are mostly ugly, and the competition, at least when viewed from abroad, is on the level of mud wrestling. Still, this is a game Americans love to follow in minute detail, with all the constant handicapping of candidates, parsing of their platforms, fine-tuning of their images and staggering spending. The trophy, of course, is not an outsize ring, but control of the legislature and several dozen states in the most powerful nation on earth, along with the legacy of its president. Sadly, the storm of partisanship as the election approaches has also embraced the spreading fear of Ebola, with politicians in some states seeking to burnish their images by enacting uselessly draconian measures against people who may have been exposed to the viral disease in West Africa. "Mad Bum" Madness Baseball is not a sport many Europeans understand, what with its languid pace, arcane pitches, cascade of statistics and ritual expectoration. That makes it fun to follow the occasional game in French, as I do, since announcers are forced to wrestle with words like "bullpen," "bunt" or "curveball." But it's also a shame, since Madison Bumgarner is the kind of American hero Europeans should get to know. The 25-year-old bearded left-hander, who lives in the off-season on a 140-acre farm in the Appalachian foothills of North Carolina, joined the pantheon of baseball immortals on Wednesday when he shut out the Kansas City Royals in the final five innings of the seventh and deciding game to give his Giants their third championship in five years. Only a day earlier, the Royals had slaughtered the Giants, 10-0. In a game that cherishes legends, Mr. Bumgarner took his place alongside immortals like Christy Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Randy Johnson. "Obviously, it hasn't sunk in yet," said the taciturn new god. There's not been near enough time to think about it. Midterm Stakes There are plenty of prognoses, analyses and prophecies out there for Tuesday's voting, but the basic picture is that Republicans stand to take control of the Senate away from the Democrats. All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election, but there is little chance that the Republicans will lose control there. In the Senate, Democrats currently hold 53 seats, Republicans 45 and independents two, so Republicans need to pick up six seats to gain control. Democrats have fewer safe seats than Republicans do, and most tossup races involve either Democratic incumbents or seats vacated by retiring Democrats. If Republicans control both houses of Congress, President Obama could spend the last two years of his presidency defending his signature health care reform against inevitable onslaughts, and ruling largely by fiat. Mr. Obama has been one of the few constants in the campaigns, with some Democratic candidates distancing themselves from his policies. But nothing is sure until the votes are in. Five of the key races are in Southern states where black voters potentially hold the key, and a lot of the Democratic effort has been spent on turning them out. Some of the races, moreover, are so close that they may require a runoff election, which could leave control of the Senate unclear until the new year. Of the roughly $4 billion spent on congressional races, the bulk has gone for negative or attack advertising. That has been the trend in recent years, but it is also a reflection of the fact that center-of-the-road voters are more likely to give midterm elections a pass than the hard-core faithful. However it plays out, one thing is certain: The partisan wars of recent years are not over. Ebola, Ignorance and Fear Nine people have fallen ill with Ebola in the United States, of whom seven have recovered, one is in treatment and only one - a Liberian visitor - has died. Europe has also had nine cases: Three patients have died, one is in treatment and the rest have recovered. Nonetheless, a report from the Pew Research Center found that 41 percent of Americans are worried that they or members of their family will be exposed to the virus. That is enough for politicians to barge in, so governors of several states, including New York and New Jersey, have sought to quarantine people arriving who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa. That is far tougher than federal guidelines, which recommend that such people should keep a few feet from others, and submit to monitoring by local health officials. Enter Kaci Hickox, a 33-year-old nurse who returned on Oct. 24 from a month working with the humanitarian medical group Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, one of three countries where Ebola is rampant. On arrival at Newark Liberty International Airport, she registered a low fever and was isolated in a tent at a hospital in New Jersey. After she threatened to sue, she was allowed to travel home to Maine, where she promptly defied a state-ordered 21-day quarantine. On Friday, a judge ruled that officials had failed to prove the need for a quarantine, and ordered "direct active monitoring" of Ms. Hickox. Ebola is considered dangerous only once a person develops symptoms. Ms. Hickox never has - and she tested negative after being quarantined. But the way she and other health workers who had been to West Africa were being stigmatized, she said in interviews, served only to deter others from going where they were desperately needed.