Outside the Beltway

Virginia Senator Jim Webb is the last of a dying breed of Democrats, but his party may need him if it wants to remain competitive anywhere outside of a Blue State.

NYT columnist Nick Kristoff says America’s income inequality makes us a banana republic.

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

They’ve won the elections, but Republicans still aren’t getting specific about exactly where they’d cut Federal spending.

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.

During the just concluded election season, eleven self-funded candidates spent a total of $ 286 million trying to win elections. Only two of them actually won.

He’s the darkest of dark horses right now, but Gary Johnson stands as the heir apparent to Ron Paul’s surprisingly energetic 2008 run for the GOP nomination.

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

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.

If you believe that the United States is built on Judeo-Christian principles, why would you oppose the redistribution of wealth?

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

Three of the Justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in Iowa have been removed by the voters. That strikes me as the beginning of a dangerous trend.

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

George W. Bush’s new memoir reveals that he briefly considered replaced Dick Cheney as Vice-President before the 2004 elections. His decision not to do so reveals much about the relationship between Presidents and Vice-Presidents in modern American politics.

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

While Matt Yglesias is right that talk about “Realignment” after a single election is ridiculous, there have indeed been realigning elections in U.S. history.

The British press takes a look at America’s Midterm Elections.

If the polling is anywhere close to accurate, a Republican wave will come crashing down today, repudiating the first two years of the Obama administration. What does it mean?

Pundits and partisans constantly overreact to the momentary mood expressed in a single election. The Republicans have already rebounded from 2008. The Democrats will recover from 2010.

The GOP is headed for big gains on Tuesday. The only question now is how big they’re going to be.

A News Corporation donation to a group opposition a ballot initiative in California is casting doubt on the objectivity of reporting at Fox Business Channel

With polls opening in less than 48 hours now, the final pre-election polling is showing that 2010 is going to be a pretty bad year for Democrats.

The growing number of cell-phone-only households gives Democrats hope that the polls are undercounting them.

215,000 people attended the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” compared to 87,000 for “Restoring Honor.” Even if you believe the numbers, they don’t tell us much.

The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear ended up having a point after all, but it’s not one that anyone is likely to take to heart.

Another poll confirms that Sarah Palin continues to be viewed negatively by the majority of American voters, but that doesn’t seem to matter to supporters who seem have a degree of adulation usually reserved for celebrities than serious politicians.

We’ve been talking about the 2010 elections since, oh, the day after the 2008 elections.   Now, it’s time for final predictions.

The Alaska Supreme Court has approved the state providing a list of certified write-in candidates to voters who ask for help.

Some Democrats believe the Jon Stewart – Stephen Colbert rally this weekend will serve as a get-out-the-vote drive.

Tonight’s topic: The election is finally here.

The 9th Circuit has struck down an Arizona law requiring people to show proof of citizenship to vote. No, this doesn’t open the floodgates to illegal alien voting.

After months of media reporting on the Republican advantage in outside spending, NYT reports that Democrats retain a sizable advantage at the campaign level.

Sharron Angle’s attorney is charging that “Harry Reid intends to steal this election if he can’t win it outright.” She touts various “shenanigans” in a fundraising letter.

Reports of voting irregularity in precincts across the country are threatening to further undermine voter confidence in the legitimacy of election outcomes. There’s a simple solution.

The GOP looks likely to win substantial victories next Tuesday, and may even take control of both Houses of Congress, but they’ve already made their own failure inevitable.

Republicans are promising two years of gridlock and obstructionism if they take control of Congress, but is that really what the people who are likely to vote for them next week really want?

A call for ideological purity in the Democratic Party in today’s New York Times demonstrates that Democrats can be just as foolish as Republicans.

We already knew that Hamid Karzai was corrupt, now we know he takes bribes from the Iranians.

Being a political blogger during election season is getting to be rather infuriating, especially if all you want to do is check your email.