Outside the Beltway

Rush Limbaugh is apparently not impressed with Barack Obama’s presidency. That doesn’t make him a racist.

Tonight’s topics: New airline screening measures, Karzai vs. Petraeus, political infighting among victorious Republicans, and the defeated Democrats keeping their leadership intact.

Lack of support from a key constituency may pose a threat to Nancy Pellosi’s effort to stay on as leader of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

The incoming freshman of the 112th Congress say that they won’t repeat the mistakes that Republicans made when they gained power sixteen years ago, but some of the advice they’re getting virtually guarantees it will happen if they aren’t careful.

Arianna Huffington has become an online mogul by convincing big donors to pay her for content others generate for free. Did she steal the idea?

Former Washington Redskins Quarterback, and current Congressman, Heath Shuler has launched a quixotic campaign against Nancy Pelosi for House Minority Leader.

Democratic consultants Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell offer some free advice for President Obama. It’s worth every penny.

A new survey shows that political ideology leads to different television viewing habits. This shouldn’t be surprising.

The white, Southern Democrat is a dying breed.

The immediate reactions from left and right to the proposals from the Chairmen of the Debt Commission are about what you’d expect.

While Tim Pawlenty and John Thune get high marks from insiders, they have next to no shot at winning the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

There are grumblings from within the Democratic caucus in the House that Nancy Pelosi may not be the best choice for Minority Leader. Unfortunately for Democrats, though, they don’t seem to have a viable alternative at the moment.

New details are out about the upcoming Defense Department report on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

This is a strange disconnect between Sarah Palin’s popularity within the Republican Party and her popularity with the nation as a whole. One wonders if the GOP notices, or cares.

According to reports, the Obama Administration is set to abandon the July 2011 withdrawal deadline that was set earlier this year.

There’s a move afoot to postpone the election of the House Democratic leadership. Why should people who were defeated in the recent elections have a say? And, surely, those just elected should have a vote.

The odds that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed anytime in the near future are fairly close to zero thanks to the results of last Tuesday’s elections.

The New York Times has joined the mostly muted chorus calling on Democrats to select someone other than Nancy Pelosi as their new Minority Leader. In all likelihood, their call will go unheeded.

Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle.

With Democrats set to maintain their majority in the Senate, some on the left are pushing for filibuster reform. However, it seems unlikely that Harry Reid has the votes to change a long-standing Senate rule.

The two episode suspension of Keith Olbermann lends credence to the theory that the whole thing was a publicity stunt designed to support MSNBC’s assertion that its opinion shows are somehow more pure than the shows on FOX.

When conservatives start attacking one of their own for pointing out the obvious, you really have to wonder if they want to win.

As impressive as Republican gains in this week’s elections were at the national level, they were even more so in state legislative races. Which means Republicans are in position to consolidate and expand upon their recent gains.

Dana Milbank asks, “Would we be better off under a President Hillary Clinton?” His affirmative answer isn’t very convincing.

Shockingly, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are hoping to increase their numbers in Congress and take back the White House.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held a private, off-the-record meeting in comedian Jon Stewart’s office back in April. Speculation abounds.

Nancy Pelosi is strongly considering staying in Congress as Minority Leader. It’s her job if she wants it.

Politico runs this morning with the shocking revelation that Keith Olbermann is a Democrat.

Mitch McConnell made clear today that he’s targeting Barack Obama for defeat in two years.

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

A longish NYT postmortem titled “Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan” attributes Tuesday’s Republican victories to a January 2009 PowerPoint presentation. But structural factors were more important.

Congressional Republicans and President Obama both held press conferences today that included talk of bipartisanship and working together. Don’t believe it.

Rasmussen polls were biased toward Republicans by 3 to 4 points. Rigged results? Or screening error?

Republicans either lost or barely won a whole lot of races because their vote was split with minor party candidates.

Democrats won the governorship, all 10 House seats, and all statewide races in Massachusetts.

Despite the Democrats sweeping quite literally every statewide office in California, Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization ballot issue, lost by 10 points.

The 2010 electorate was whiter, older, and more conservative than that of 2008.

In my home state of Virginia, which has two Democratic Senators and went for Barack Obama in 2008, Republicans are poised to take four House districts held by Democrats in the last Congress.