Outside the Beltway

Adam Laxalt’s big lead is slowly erodiing.

A surprising factoid in a bad election for the party.

A low bar has been cleared.

Boosting weak candidates in the Republican primaries paid off.

A deep dive into why our politics are so broken.

What will it take to end the cycle of violence?

Would bypassing politicians altogether make the system more just?

A bit of a rant, I expect.

She is the shortest-tenured Prime Minister in British history.

The rules for voting in America vary widely.

A thought inspired by the PA Senate race.

It would be nice if the legislature represented the voters and whatnot.

31 of the 35 Senate races next month are noncompetititve.

And a reminder of the role of political parties.

Autocrats facing defeat have all kinds of counterproductive, dangerous ideas.

Putin provides an example for a Politics 101 class.

How well has the famous thesis fared?

A lot of folks who study democracy have sent an open letter to Congress.

More details from the Alaska special election.

No one should draw conclusions about RCV from the AK special election.

American parties are coordination problems with shared branding.

This is as close as we get to Garland saying “Eff around, find out!”

“America can survive the demagogues themselves, it’s their audience that will kill us.”

Hardball politics or dirty pool?

Capitol Hill Republicans are turning the concept on its head.

The Forward Party will almost certainly go nowhere.

Can American democracy survive its information bubbles?

A proposal by Jamell Bouie

Are plurality winners less legitimate than popular vote losers?

What should conservatives who can’t support the party of Trump do?

Another comment on the American presidency and its critics.

Assuming they had the votes, should Democrats carve out yet another exception?

The pressure and expectations of a king, but with considerably less power.

The implications of modes of interpretation.

Yet another reminder of the pathologies of American institutions.

How long can the unsustainable be sustained?

This will just reinforce minority rule in the US.

From J. S. Mill.

Could Alaska point the way to a solution?

Tweaking the message and getting out the vote don’t matter as much as strategists think.

Are you going to believe this index or your own lyin’ eyes?

The laying out of the case begins.

They’re taking their eye off the ball.

The NYT and CA41 and yet another example of telling the wrong story.

The first round produced two very different candidates.

Donald Trump and friends speak to the NRA.

The obstacles to fixing the problem are many.