Outside the Beltway

Looking into uncontested and partially contest House districts from the 2014 cycle.

Should the Legislature take back legislating from the Executive?

An unsurprising ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that only seems to bring closer the day when same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide.

This year was an especially acute case of no competition in Alabama.

There’s nothing wrong with choosing not to vote.

Important numbers in recent polling suggest big problems for Democrats on Tuesday.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle like to tell people they’re just “average Americans,” but they’re lying and the American people seem to have figured out that they’re lying.

The passing of a true legend in American journalism.

Rich guys are backing organizations that are taking over traditional party functions. Is that a problem?

The Roberts court has been very good on First Amendment issues, but it needs to address the First Amendment issue right outside its front windows.

My ongoing crusade to spark thought and discussion on the quality of representation in the US Congress.

Frank Foer proclaims, “Amazon Must Be Stopped. It’s too big. It’s cannibalizing the economy.”

Apparently, the buck doesn’t stop in the Oval Office these days.

The sixth year of a presidency leads to some predictable commentary (and some comparative notes).

While the world pays attention to Syria and Iraq, Yemen is once against lurching into chaos.

Jess Zimmerman offers “An ingenious way to save the comments section,” if she does say so herself.

After keeping his distance from them for three years, President Obama is placing much misplaced hope in the “moderate” Syrian rebels,

Another Federal appellate Court has struck down state law bans on same-sex marriage, but the only thing that matters now is the Supreme Court.

The United States is, in fact, doing the exact opposite.

There are plenty of other factors that help our two major parties retain power.

It’s hard for a party to win four straight presidential elections. The Democrats may pull it off.

Viet Xuan Luong pins on a brigadier general’s star today, becoming the first Vietnamese-American officer to achieve that rank.

The current immigration debate is yet another great example of how our system works (so to speak).

The Israeli public if overwhelmingly behind the war in Gaza, and that means it will probably continue for awhile.

Crisis seems to be brewing all over the world, but the American people aren’t persuaded that it’s necessary for the United States to act.

Rather than being a bad thing, negative campaigning is an essential part of our political system.

The various factions in Afghanistan have agreed, at least in principle, to alter the nation’s government as part of a deal to resolve election disputes.

Ed Klein says he has “Democrat sources” who Obama wants Warren to continue his mission to “transform America into a European-style democratic-socialist state.”

More on instiutional design.

A piece at Foreign Policy provides a chance to give some thought to institutions.

A new poll shows that Americans don’t buy into the idea of “American exceptionalism” as much as they used to. That’s a positive development rather than a negative one.

Some surveys suggest that younger Americans are less patriotic than older generations.

If current trends holds, Democratic candidates are going to have a problem turning out voters in November.

Parties do not own voters, and the job of campaigns is to attract voters.

Some questions for the Republicans who would be President about the actions of the last Republican President.

Once again, conservatives demonstrate how little they understand minority voters.

Recent events in Iraq have opened up old domestic political arguments in the United States.

Twenty-five years after his seminal “End of History” article, Francis Fukuyama reflects on its legacy.