Outside the Beltway

The Illinois Appellate Court has tossed mayoral frontrunner Rahm Emanuel off the ballot, saying he didn’t meet residency requirements.

We won’t be able to solve our fiscal problems until the American people grow up. So far, there are no signs of that happening.

An obscure Arizona law has raised questions over whether Congressman Gabrielle Giffords could lose her seat if she is disabled for an extended period.

As noted recently, whites are leaving the Democratic Party in droves. Some black Democrats think it’s time to take affirmative action.

More on the strategery of civility.

The current approach of the GOP to health care is not dissimilar to its approach to fiscal policy: not a lot of substance.

The last thing that Haiti needed was for a former dictator to return, but that’s exactly what has happened.

Information made public by Wikileaks appears to have played a role in sparking the protest movement that has brought down the President of Tunisia.

Sarah Palin released a statement today about the Arizona shootings and the debate that has followed. It’s unlikely to help her.

Social conservatives are upset with CPAC again. This time, it’s because the conference they’re not attending has invited someone they don’t like.

The tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others in Arizona has started another debate about political rhetoric. It’s a stupid debate, and it’s utterly pointless.

The Republicans are increasingly the party of white America. That’s short term good but long term bad for the GOP.

Freshman Members of Congress are threatening to block a vote to raise the debt ceiling that Congress will have to take by this Spring. They’d be irresponsible if they did so.

Will the Tea Party Movement grow up?

Constitutional ambiguity is as old as, well, it’s as old as the Constitution itself

The usage of the recess appointment process is just another example of the need for institutional reform in the Senate.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

Frustrated that it couldn’t achieve desired environmental legislation despite huge majorities in both Houses of Congress, the Obama administration has decided to govern by executive fiat.

Those who argue that tariff increases, and not slavery, were the key reason for secession have some basic problems with the historical sequence.

If Democrats had been this effective the previous two years, would they have lost as badly in November?

Might Rudy do better in 2012 than he did in 2008?

Red States should gain 10 seats while Blue States should lose eight.

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a sign that the political ground is shifting. Will the GOP take notice?

The 20th Amendment was supposed to eliminate lame duck sessions, but it didn’t.

Do graduates of elite colleges earn more because of where they went to school? Or because of the traits that got them selected?

The battle over the individual mandate is really just nothing more than the latest round in a batter that has been ongoing for 221 years.

Are Marco Rubio, Haley Barbour, and Mike Huckabee the favorites to win the White House?

A new poll shows that the American public is discontented, nervous about the economy, not entirely sure they can trust the new GOP majority in Congress, and has no idea what it wants from Washington. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

One of the most active American diplomats of the past twenty-five years has passed away.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows and, when it comes to the debate over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, anti-tax Republicans are making common cause with soak-the-rich progressives.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn’t running for President, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s at least thinking about it.

President Obama is already taking heat from the left for his compromise on tax cut extensions, but will it actually hurt him in the end?

President Obama and the GOP have reached a deal on extending the Bush tax cuts that gives the GOP virtually everything it wanted.

How would appointed Senators affect the partisan mix of the Senate?

Republican maneuvering to extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans appears about to pay off.