Outside the Beltway

Instead of decades-old retreads like talking about abolishing the Department of Education, it would be nice if we had a real debate about the fiscal circumstances in the country.

The numbers coming out of the first few weeks of early voting confirms the enthusiasm gap that pollsters have been talking about for months.

A call for ideological purity in the Democratic Party in today’s New York Times demonstrates that Democrats can be just as foolish as Republicans.

Thanks to races in as many six states that may be decided by absentee and write-in ballots, we may not know the outcome of the 2010 Elections for several weeks after Election Day.

We already knew that Hamid Karzai was corrupt, now we know he takes bribes from the Iranians.

At least in Nevada, there appears to be little evidence of an enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats, which is potentially good news for Harry Reid.

Being a political blogger during election season is getting to be rather infuriating, especially if all you want to do is check your email.

Are people actually being influenced to vote based on robo-calls? And, if so, what percentage of people are being influenced to vote against the candidate on behalf of whom the calls are made?

Thanks mostly to Virginia Thomas’s decision to place an early Saturday morning phone call to Anita Hill, a woman who had remained silent since 1986 appears in the press to claim she can corroborate the charges that Anita Hill made nineteen years ago.

Newsweek’s latest poll shows a boom in support for President Obama and the Democrats. It’s the only poll showing that, however.

In what is being described as the largest leak of secret documents in U.S. history, Wikileaks has made public more than 400,000 documents related to the seven year long Iraq War.

Nancy Pelosi is irritating some party stalwarts by funneling money into the campaigns of Democratic incumbents running ads against her.

The firing of Juan Williams from NPR has led many conservatives to call for an end to government subsidies. As is often the case, they’re right but for the wrong reasons.

The biggest outside spender in 2010 isn’t the Chamber of Commerce but the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The Pentagon has reinstated Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell under procedures that will make the discharge process more difficult. Which is good because it doesn’t look like DADT will be repealed any time soon.

Virginia’s answer to Joe Biden has put his foot in his mouth once again. It won’t prevent him from getting an 11th term.

The Tea Party movement doesn’t seem to have a coherent view on foreign policy. Which means that a Tea Party victory will just mean more of the same Republican neo-conservatism.

John Cole is ashamed that some House Democrats are running against Nancy Pelosi, given her effectiveness. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Apparently Juan Williams is really, really, really important.

Sarah Palin is causing headaches among fellow Republicans regarding her 2010 endorsement activities.

NPR says it fired Juan Williams for remarks that were “inconsistent” with its editorial standards. In reality, it appears that Williams was the victim of the same convenient editing that cost Shirley Sherrod her job earlier this year.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is once again the law of the land.

Andy Borowitz suggests “Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas’s Wife Calls You.”

President Obama is reportedly avoiding a visit to India’s Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, for fear that he’ll be accused of being a Muslim.

Voters head to the polls in thirteen days, and current indications are that they’ll be handing a big victory to the Republican Party.

Lisa Murkowski, who lost the Republican primary, may be on the verge of winning re-election as a sore-loser write-in.

Recklessness.

Nineteen years after they ended, the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings are back in the news thanks to a voicemail that Thomas’s wife left for Professor Hill.

The story about the private security guards who “arrested” a journalist at a Joe Miller campaign event just keeps getting stranger by the day.

It’s looking less and less likely that the GOP will gain control of the Senate, but they’re going to come awfully close,, and that might be just as good from their point of view.

Honors go to YahooNews and/or AP for “Levi Johnston wants to be mayor; has no platform.”

Politico says 99 Democratic House seats are “in play.” They’re not. But dozens are.

Will Digital Video Recorders kill the campaign commercial? Unfortunately, no.

Salon has video of the aftermath of the Hopfinger handcuffing. Plus: if we remove the partisan labels and just assess what happened, would we view this situation differently?

Tom Brokaw notices something peculiar about the campaign debates: Nobody’s talking about Iraq or Afghanistan.