Outside the Beltway

That word may not mean what you think it means.

An idea whose time has come? Not really.

Mitt Romney 2016? Not as far as his wife is concerned.

Individual polls are likely to be volatile, so don’t pay too much attention to them.

Speaker Boehner wants to delay a vote on the ISIS war until January, but any such debate will be meaningless because Congress has already abdicated responsibility.

Politics, the law, culture, and a very old language collide.

And presidentialism encourages this kind of behavior.

One analyst thinks that the predictions of a Republican Senate in 2014 are wildly optimistic.

Some have argued that there is an historical bias against political parties holding on to the White House for more than two terms. As with most commonly held ideas, that simply isn’t true.

Debbie Dingell is set to continue an 80 year legacy of Dingells occupying the same seat in the House of Representatives. That’s not a good thing.

The current Congress is on course to be the least productive in decades.

Some people on the left are still trying to convince Ruth Bader Ginsburg that she needs to just step out on the ice floe already.

More on instiutional design.

Public faith in government institutions is at all all time low.

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

Hillary Clinton remains at the top of the polls, but she’s got at least one big vulnerability.

Good intentions and good results aside, the President’s disrespect for the Rule Of Law should concern everyone.

Does the office of Vice-President serve any useful purpose anymore?

Allen West seems to think that God might want him to run for President. Unfortunately for Mr. West, so does Ben Carson.

Romney 2016? Anything’s possible, but probably not.

Have gubernatorial elections become more nationalized?

So, Dana Milbank has a column.

Young voters reject political parties to a greater extent than other voters, but on policy issues they trend Democratic

Tan, rested, ready, Biden in 2016?

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores his complicated reaction to the first African-American president.

Ron Fournier sees major similarities but ignores key differences.

David Brooks thinks that the problem with American Government is that the Presidency isn’t strong enough.

Dana Milbank offers a nonsensical reason for denying our youth the freedom to choose their own path.

A third term for any of these guys? Don’t count on it.

Divided government is the worst political system ever, except for all the others.

63% are angry at Republicans, 57% are angry at Democrats, and 53% are angry at President Obama.

The political polarization we saw during the Bush Presidency has continued throughout the Obama Presidency.

President Obama is trying to launch a war but there’s a lot of competition for attention.

Ted Cruz is either being incredibly cynical as he deludes his fellow Republicans, or he’s living in a fantasy world.

A new poll shows public approval for the Supreme Court nearing a all-time low.

Once again, the threat of the “nuclear option” appears to have had less megatonnage than some expected and others hoped.