Outside the Beltway

Democrats have opened up a 6 point lead in the Gallup generic ballot tracking poll, their first statistically significant lead of the cycle.

Recent debates over the economic and fiscal impact of the Bush tax cuts indicate that Republicans still haven’t learned the lessons of the Bush years.

Vice-President Biden glances into the future and sees a relatively good year for Democrats. Is he right ?

Elena Kagan may be smiling because her confirmation is assured, but she doesn’t have as much public support as previous nominees.

Affluent, educated people in the DC policy community hold different views than the larger American public.

Nate Silver provides yet more bad news for Democrats: When screening for “likely voters,” Republican numbers look even better.

Virginia’s governor wants the state to get out of the liquor business after 76 years. It’s about time.

In Court filings the Obama Administration is arguing that the health insurance mandate is a tax, and if they’re right the legal challenges to ObamaCare are dead.

Some Republicans seem to think they don’t need to put forward any actual ideas in order to win November.

A bizarre rant in American Spectator contains some interesting thoughts about the nature of America’s political elite.

Reports of Barack Obama’s political death are greatly exaggerated and wildly premature.

When it comes to opinions about Sarah Palin, there is a striking difference between Republicans and Americans in general.

The Palin and Romney camps have already started trading barbs in what could be a preview of the race for the GOP nomination in 2012.

The results of a new poll may have President Obama worrying about 2012 already.

One conservative argues that the “scandal” over the New Black Panther Party’s alleged voter intimidation is a tempest in a teapot.

The Senate’s stonewalling of unemployment benefits extension makes no sense.

And we return, yet again, to specious comparisons to Hitler (and Lenin).

The President likely has some very bad poll numbers on his mind this morning.

The White House is making some very odd political choices in its response to the Arizona immigration law.

Where did Alvin Greene get the $ 10,000 for his Senate filing fee ? He got from you, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer !

Another new poll brings bad news for Democrats and the President.

Will Democrats use a lame-duck session of Congress to pass legislation they can’t get through otherwise ? They might try, but I doubt they’ll succeed.

Americans are more supportive of their tax money going to law enforcement than welfare.

Republicans are looking at making some major, and interesting, changes to the primary calendar for 2012.

Alvin Greene is running a political campaign, but it’s unlike anything anyone has ever seen before.

Barack Obama may not be doing much campaigning in the fall if recent poll numbers are any indication.

Two widely-hyped reports have Wall Street firms donating less money to Democrats as payback for financial reform efforts. But a closer look reveals no such thing.

Once again, the knives are out for Michael Steele after his recent Afghanistan gaffe.

The latest poll trends have pollster Charlie Cook thinking that the Democrats could be in for a very bad trouncing on Election Day.

So much for the Obama Administration’s “Summer of Recovery.”

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham sees the beginning of the end of the Tea Parties, and he’s probably right.

Michael Gerson argues that the source of our polarization isn’t the Democrats and the Republicans but the Ugly Party and the Grown-Up Party.

George Will has some real questions for Elena Kagan. Too bad nobody’s going to ask them.

The House GOP Leader is proposing that we get serious about Social Security reform.

Elena Kagan’s interest in vigorous and open confirmation hearings ended roughly the moment she was sworn in by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Miss yesterday’s opening round of the Kagan hearings ? You didn’t miss much.

A comedian’s farcical run for mayor of Reykjavik ended in victory. It’s as if Stephen Colbert’s 2008 presidential bid had worked. Or Al Franken got elected to the Senate!

David Petraeus says he supports the President’s Afghanistan policy, including the withdrawal timetable, but that means less than most people think it does.

Another poll brings bad news for the White House.

The House Democrats have just handed the GOP another issue to bash them with in the fall.