Outside the Beltway

Will the incoming “Tea Party” caucus in the House and Senate force the GOP to reconsider its views on foreign policy? Don’t count on it.

Despite votes in the 2010 contest still being counted, polls for 2012 are already pouring out. They’re largely meaningless.

The Federal Reserve is injecting $ 600,000,000,000 into the economy, primarily in the hope that it will boost stock prices and, in turn, the economy. It might work, but if it doesn’t the consequences could be severe.

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

A longish NYT postmortem titled “Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan” attributes Tuesday’s Republican victories to a January 2009 PowerPoint presentation. But structural factors were more important.

An NBC analysis shows Tea Party candidates winning only 5 of 10 Senate races and 40 of 130 House races, a success rate of only 32 percent.

If you believe that the United States is built on Judeo-Christian principles, why would you oppose the redistribution of wealth?

Tonight’s topic: Slow news day. We’ll figure out something.

Congressional Republicans and President Obama both held press conferences today that included talk of bipartisanship and working together. Don’t believe it.

Three of the Justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in Iowa have been removed by the voters. That strikes me as the beginning of a dangerous trend.

Last night’s election results stand as a mixed verdict on the Tea party and its impact on the Republican Party.

Rasmussen polls were biased toward Republicans by 3 to 4 points. Rigged results? Or screening error?

The Republicans are currently up 60 seats and, Jim Geraghty notes, “We’re still waiting on official calls or concessions in 11 House races; all of them feature Democrat incumbents.”

Republicans either lost or barely won a whole lot of races because their vote was split with minor party candidates.

Democrats won the governorship, all 10 House seats, and all statewide races in Massachusetts.

In yet another move designed to take the fun out of being a kid, San Francisco has banned the Happy Meal.

George W. Bush’s new memoir reveals that he briefly considered replaced Dick Cheney as Vice-President before the 2004 elections. His decision not to do so reveals much about the relationship between Presidents and Vice-Presidents in modern American politics.

Despite the Democrats sweeping quite literally every statewide office in California, Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization ballot issue, lost by 10 points.

The 2010 electorate was whiter, older, and more conservative than that of 2008.

In my home state of Virginia, which has two Democratic Senators and went for Barack Obama in 2008, Republicans are poised to take four House districts held by Democrats in the last Congress.

In my former home state of Alabama, Republicans won every major contest, save the one House seat specifically drawn to ensure a Democratic victory.

The enthusiasm for Tea Party candidates likely helped the House Republican wave. But it also likely cost the GOP four Senate seats that it would otherwise have won — and thus the majority.

Senator DeMint provides the basic answers to my Tea Party/GOP questions from earlier today.

GOP to take the House.

Exit polls reveal a shocking bit of information: voters aren’t happy with either party.

After three months, Rupert Murdoch’s strategy of walling off the Times websites isn’t looking so smart.

The governator has terminated the use of welfare cards at medical marijuana shops, psychics, bail bond establishments, bingo halls, cruise ships and tattoo parlors.

A question about the next Congress.