Outside the Beltway

Ben Carson and his supporters would have you believe that he is being subjected to unprecedented and unfair scrutiny. That assertion is completely false.

To no real surprise, the Obama Administration has rejected the application to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is likely to remain an issue in the upcoming Presidential campaign, though.

Why Republicans nominate moderates for president and not other offices.

Well this could be a game changer.

Forget about Congress, the real story going forward is likely to be Republican dominance of state legislatures nationwide.

Virginia Democrats tried to capture control of the Virginia State Senate by, in part, emphasizing gun control issues. The fact that they failed is instructive.

For the first time since Chang Kai-Shek escaped across the Taiwan Strait, the leaders of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China will meet this weekend.

Republican Matt Bevin picked up what comes as a surprise win to many observers, and that sets up a big fight over what had been a PPACA program that the White House has touted.

Another piece of news that all but guarantees the fate of the Keystone XL project will not be resolved before President Obama leaves office.

Today, many states and municipalities are having elections that will mostly attract Democrats.

Paul Ryan’s admission that immigration reform will not happen as long as Barack Obama is President simply reflects the reality of immigration politics in Congress.

Will Canada ditch FPTP?

Marco Rubio has won the support of a top Republican donor and bundler, giving a much needed boost to his campaign.

With only a handful of opposition, Paul Ryan was easily elected the 62nd Speaker of the House.

Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal on the budget and debt ceiling that promises to make Paul Ryan’s initial months as Speaker a lot easier.

Republicans seem to be thinking that Hillary Clinton will be an easier General Election candidate than the evidence suggests she is likely to be.

A new poll shows that the Tea Party movement is more unpopular than it has ever been before, even among Republicans and conservatives.

The Department of Justice has informed Congress that its investigation has found no basis for criminal charges arising out of the targeting of conservative organizations by IRS officials evaluating applications for tax-exempt status.

The nurse who was detained by New Jersey officials in a quarantine despite not displaying any symptoms of Ebola is suing Chris Christie and others for civil liberties violations.

After an eleven hour day on Capitol Hill, it was Hillary Clinton 1 House Benghazi Committee 0.

With the top conservative caucus in Congress acquiescing to his candidacy, Paul Ryan is largely certain to become the next Speaker of the House.

Paul Ryan has never really wanted to be Speaker Of The House, but he’s take the job if House Republicans meet the conditions he’s set out.

A political earthquake north of the border.

A new poll shows an up-tick in public support for some gun control measures, but gun control advocates can’t ignore the political reality that says those restrictions are unlikely to ever become law.

If pre-election polling is to be believed, Stephan Harper and Canada’s Conservative Party seem likely to lose power after Monday’s elections, but there are several reasons why this may not end up being the case.

Another Republican Congressman has said that the Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attack is primarily concerned with scoring political points against Hillary Clinton.

Paul Ryan has yet to say if he will run for Speaker of the House, but that hasn’t stopped the opposition on the hard right from forming already.

California has become the second state to provide for automatic voter registration for all eligible voters when they obtain or renew a driver’s license.

Rand Paul’s flailing Presidential campaign seems to be raising concerns about his Senate seat among some Republicans.

Hillary Clinton has started to distance herself from President Obama on some issues. It’s an understandable strategy, but it carries many risks.

One of the nation’s preeminent polling firms is sitting out the 2016 primaries.

With just a day to go before House Republicans pick their candidate for Speaker, conservatives don’t seem to be able to unify behind a candidate.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus suggested that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t get used to their place at the top of the primary calendar. He’s right, but fixing the crazy system that put them there isn’t going to be easy.

Congress will get a temporary funding bill passed in time to avoid a shutdown on Thursday, but it may just be delaying the inevitable.

Trump remains in the lead, but he has been steadily falling over the month of September. (And this triggers, as these things do, musings about institutions and our party system).

The seeds of the current peace deal date back to 2007-2008 (plus some longer-term background notes).

She’s where she’ belongs.

Big news out of Washington, D.C.

The latest effort by conservative Republicans to oust John Boehner appears to be coming to an unsurprising end.

To listen to many of the Republican candidates for President, it would appear that the lights have been turned out on Ronald Reagan’s shining city on a hill.

Britain’s Labour Party has taken a hard tilt left with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

A Federal Judge has ruled that part of a lawsuit filed by the House of Representatives can go forward, but the legal battle is far from over.

Some Republicans are threatening a government shutdown over funding of Planned Parenthood, but a new poll shows that it would be a big political risk for Republicans.