“On the eve of an election that could turn on affordability, the nation is getting less affordable,” the New York Times reports.“That’s the takeaway from today’s inflation report, which deepened Republican gloom as it revealed that rising energy costs, largely driven by the war with Iran, have pushed prices up with a few weeks to go until the midterms.”“The report showed that consumer prices last month were 3.7 percent higher than they were a year earlier, contradicting President Trump’s sunny pronouncements about an improving economy.”