Outside the Beltway

The Tea Party guys had a bad year.

Representative democracy is a process of delegation of power to agents who act on behalf of citizens. The process of delegation matters.

There are very rational reasons behind the current gridlock on Capitol Hill.

Last night’s defeat of “Plan B” demonstrated yet again that John Boehner does not really control his caucus.

The GOP’s image problems continue

Jake Tapper is moving to CNN, where he’ll host a daily show and run their political coverage.

If you’re a Member of Congress, the odds are pretty good that you’re going to stay one.

Democrats are approaching an “Electoral College lock.” Republicans are trying to pick it.

Pennsylvania Republicans want to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

The issue of same-sex marriage will be before the Supreme Court early next year.

The truth behind today’s unemployment numbers.

Elections put the players in office. They don’t dictate the outcome of the game.

Perhaps we should take a pass on trying to reach a deal on resolving issues propelling us toward the Fiscal Cliff.

They are playing the game without rules in Egypt.

The Governor of Iowa thinks the Ames Straw Poll should be ended, but he really ought to go further than that.

Dean “Unskewed Polls” Chambers is back, and he’s as deluded as ever.

Are two-term Presidencies the new normal?

Republicans need to realize that they are at a disadvantage in the upcoming negotiations regarding the Fiscal Cliff.

Republican opposition to same-sex marriage is costing it yet another demographic group.

Judging by the record of the past decade and a half, movement conservatism has accomplished very little.

Fareed Zakaria declares “America’s election process an international embarrassment.” He’s right.

Some people on the right apparently want to return to this map.

Many conservatives are living inside of a media bubble and they’ll continue to have problems until the consciously decide to break out of it.

Barone tells some tales to make himself feel better.

Republicans used to dominate California. Now, they’re barely a factor in the state’s politics.

There are some expected and unexpected results in Nate Silver’s review of pollster accuracy in 2012.

The Republican Party needs more than outreach to Hispanics to become a viable national party again.

The Supreme Court has agreed to take on another big case.

Once again, Senate Democrats are talking about filibuster reform, but will they actually follow through?

The Democratic Party appears to have a lock on a substantial part of the Electoral College. That poses a problem for Republicans.

If the Romney campaign looked shocked on Election Night, that’s because they didn’t believe the polls either.

More griping about poor analysis.

Republicans are trying to figure out what went wrong. Will they learn the right lessons from their loss?

The impact of outside spending on the election turned out to be far less consequential than many had feared.