Outside the Beltway

Does Ron Paul’s second place showing at Ames mean the media should take him seriously as a contender? No, it doesn’t.

On reflection, the nature of Marcus Bachmann’s influence over his wife is indeed a legitimate question in a political campaign.

Taking an initial look into the Texas economy.

Rick Perry will need to get past Michele Bachmann before he takes on Mitt Romney. But, really, how hard could it be?

One of the super-rich says we should stop coddling the super-rich.

Rick Perry declared, “One of the reasons that I’m running for president is I want to make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the United States respects highly the president of the United States.”

Further evidence of Bachmann’s extreme views on homosexuality.

Rick Perry may be much less than meets the eye.

Tim Pawlenty is out, to nobody’s surprise.

The Ames Straw Poll is like the first scrimmage of NFL training camp.

A good day for Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, and Rick Perry. A bad day for everyone else.

While most of the Republican field was at the Iowa State Fair, Rick Perry was in South Carolina shaking up the field.

Time for the spinning of the straw poll results to begin.

Denying the Tea Party’s role in the downgrade of U.S. debt is to deny reality.

Although he didn’t get the words quite right yesterday, Mitt Romney was exactly right about corporations.

Last night’s debate was definitely more combative than previous renditions.

The Telegraph’s chief political commentator sees moral decay at the top as well as the bottom.

The Twitterverse and the Democratic National Committee are having a field day with Mitt Romney’s declaration that “Corporations are people, my friend.”

State-level job approval numbers seem to suggest that the President could have Electoral College worries in 2012.

Examining the impact of current events requires stepping back from them just a little bit.

Today is Cost of Government Day, at least for those who can’t do math.

Presidents are not a powerful as they seem (and a return to the “are things broken?” theme).

Rick Perry’s entry into the race could quickly turn the 2012 GOP fight into a two man race.

Non-rich people are in favor of taxing the rich and using the proceeds to fund programs for non-rich people

What you think you know about the U.S.-China trade relationship may not be entirely true.

Some thoughts on the riots (especially some US partisan responses to it).

Should President Obama call Congress back into session? Not if there’s nothing to do he shouldn’t.

Michele Bachmann is claiming that the debt downgrade proves she was right about not raising the debt ceiling.