Outside the Beltway

Day One of questions for Judge Brett Kavanaugh went about as you’d expect.

The West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that a candidate who lost the GOP primary for Senate cannot run as the nominee of another party due to the state’s “sore loser” law.

With Martha McSally pulling off a decisive win, Arizona Republicans managed to avoid the disaster that likely would have occurred had either Kelli Ward or Joe Arpaio won last night.

President Trump’s much-hyped replacement for NAFTA doesn’t really amount to much and won’t amount to anything unless he can get Canada, and the U.S. Congress, on board.

Recently indicted Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. is blaming his apparently estranged wife and the so-called “Deep State” for the fact that he’s charged with embezzling a quarter million dollars from his campaign.

Republican candidate Troy Balderson was declared the winner of a Special Election in suburban Central Ohio, but the fact the race was even close should worry Republicans nationwide.

ESPN won’t air the National Anthem before regular season games this year, but that probably won’t stop the President from ranting about it.

A new study claims voter ID laws may disenfranchise the demographic, potentially swinging several Congressional races.

The first night of games in the N.F.L. pre-season included some sporadic protests during the National Anthem, and prompted a predictable response from the President.

Republican Troy Balderson holds a narrow lead in a Special Election in Ohio. Even if he wins, though, the way this election played out does not bode well for the GOP in November.

A Special Election tomorrow in suburban Columbus, Ohio could tell us a lot about where the midterm elections might be headed.

The President is apparently getting ready to take yet another ill-advised step in his ill-advised, economically illiterate trade war.

Republicans will hold their 2020 National Convention in the same city that hosted the Democrats back in 2012.

In the wake of a grievance filed by the union representing players, the N.F.L. has suspended the new National Anthem policy it announced earlier this year. This guarantees even more cynical political exploitation by the President.

The midterm elections are still four months away, but Democrats are already making moves to prepare for the race for their party’s Presidential nomination in 2020.

At least in these early days, Democrats appear to lack a coherent message, or a coherent strategy, to propel any effort to block Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Some considerations on the politics of Roe v. Wade.

Next term, the Justices will revisit the issue of whether someone can be tried in state and Federal Court for the same crime for the first time in nearly sixty years.

President Trump’s short list of potential Supreme Court nominees consists mostly of conventionally conservative, well-qualified, jurists.

President Trump is reportedly considering the 47-year-old Utah Senator to replace Anthony Kennedy.

Joe Crowley, widely considered in line to replace Nancy Pelosi as party leader in the House, has been defeated.

Madison was right about politicians and ambition. He just didn’t see the how it would all play out.

We may finally get a ruling applying the Excessive Fine Clause to the states and limiting the ability of police to confiscate property.

Seemingly out of nowhere yesterday, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the Pentagon to create a fifth service.

A federal trial court has ruled the practice an unconstitutional infringement on suffrage.

Democrats have decided to move up the date of their 2020 Convention.

In a new interview, the President says that he doesn’t believe that N.F.L. players who kneel during the National Anthem have a real issue.

Virginia Republicans took a hard-right turn in yesterday’s primary. This is likely to benefit the Democrats.

GOP primary voters continue to reward staunch supporters of the President and punish those who get on his bad side.

Has the party paid too big a price to attract suburban voters?

Trump’s withdrawal of his invitation to the Philadelphia Eagles is just another example of his populistic nationalism. (And it isn’t healthy).

Most Americans disagree with Trump on the N.F.L. National Anthem protests, but Republicans are behind him.

It isn’t a primary and it is an illustration of how electoral rules affect behavior.

President Trump waded back into the National Anthem debate when he revoked the invitation of the Philadelphia Eagles to come to the White House today.

According to reports, President Trump is preparing to go to war against luxury German cars.

Earlier this week, the Illinois legislature ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. What’s unclear is if this act has any meaning at all.

In an early morning Tweetstorm, President Trump said he would not have hired Jeff Sessions if he knew he’d recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

The President’s constant attacks on the news media are meant for a single purpose, to undermine even accurate reporting about wrongdoing in his Administration.

President Trump’s response to the N.F.L.’s new National Anthem policy is as narrow-minded and divisive as you’d expected it to be.

The N.F.L. has come up with a dumb “solution” to a non-existent problem.

As expected, Gina Haspel was confirmed as C.I.A. Director yesterday despite her controversial record when it comes to torture.

At least one red state Democrat will be voting against Gina Haspel.

Quietly, Mike Pence is seeking to create his own power base inside the GOP even as the White House pushes back.

Republican chances to hold the Senate were boosted in West Virginia last night thanks to the fact that a fringe candidate was soundly defeated.

Whether Don Blankenship wins or loses in West Virginia, his success is yet another example of how Donald Trump has changed the GOP for the worse.

National Republicans are increasingly concerned that an upstart, racist candidate who has unleashed personal attacks on Mitch McConnell’s family will sneak through and win tomorrow’s primary to decide who will face Joe Manchin in November.

A new lawsuit seeks to have the 2012 DACA program declared unconstitutional.

Republicans are worried about 2018, and they’re even more worried that they have a President who is refusing to acknowledge political reality.

Failed Senate candidate Roy Moore is suing several of the women who accused him of sexual misconduct during last year’s campaign.

General (Retired) Michael Hayden has some harsh, and concerning, criticisms of the Trump administration.