Outside the Beltway

Senator John McCain has died at the age of 81,

A group of lawsuits filed across the country are seeking to challenge the predominant method for allocation of Electoral College votes. These lawsuits appear to have little merit.

Notwithstanding his dismissive public rhetoric about the former Vice-President, Donald Trump apparently sees Joe Biden as his biggest potential threat in 2020.

An initiative that would have purported to split California into three separate states has been barred by the California Supreme Court from appearing on the November ballot.

Forget the “republic v. a democracy” abstraction. The numbers show some serious flaws in translating popular will into government.

A reference point for the future.

The Strzok hearing provides a return to this timeworn favorite.

There is a frustration and a growing sense that the American political system is illegitimate.

Progressive enthusiasm for the notion that our governing framework is dynamic and ought be constantly updated by the judiciary is waning.

A 9-0 ruling side-stepped the broader issue of to what extent purely political considerations may be applied.

Tim Draper’s fantasy will finally get a vote this November.

Has the party paid too big a price to attract suburban voters?

While longtime supporters have turned on the legendary attorney over his support of Donald Trump, he’s been astonishingly consistent.

Eleven states plus DC, who have 172 of the 270 electoral votes needed to elect a President, are now part of the compact.

The campaign-agnostic political science models predicted a toss-up in 2016 and again in 2020.

The woman who lost the 2016 election is apparently not going to go away.

If you recall your grade school civics, you already knew this.

Critics warn this move would lead to a drastic undercount of Hispanic voters, impacting Congressional districting, federal programs, and more.

Despite what his own intelligence chiefs are saying, President Trump still does not believe that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

A newly released poll has encouraging signs for Democrats in 2018, but there are several caveats.

And a little Electoral College for good measure.

Despite mounting evidence and outrageous behavior, Republicans nationwide and on Capitol Hill continue to do the Administration’s dirty work. They’ll most likely live to regret it.

Steve Bannon loses his position at Breitbart after his blistering comments about the President and others in the Administration became public.

Who needs a First Amendment when you have lawyers willing to write threatening letters?

President Trump has shut down the commission he established to investigate unsupported claims of “voter fraud” in the 2016 election.

Most Americans are unlikely to remember John Anderson, but he was a harbinger of things to come.

Even during an overseas trip, President Trump continues to try to undermine the Russia investigation.

Will Joe Biden be ‘tan, rested, and ready’ enough to take on 2020?

A complicated concurrence to Steven Taylor’s recent postings.

Some quick thoughts on Moore v. Strange.

The ‘No Labels’ movement is back, and it’s as irrelevant to contemporary politics as ever.

Some more interesting post-election commentary from Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton’s latest memoir lashes out at those to blame for her unexpected loss.

A Federal Appeals Court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Gary Johnson and Jill Stein regarding their exclusion from Presidential debates.

Democrats and “Never Trump”ers shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched.

Three new polls show Trump’s job approval down significantly in the three states that put him over the top in the Electoral College last year.

Donald Trump is unlikely to ever be a popular President, but that may not matter.

A Duke history professor uncovers “stealth plan” by “fifth columnists” who are seeking to overthrow democracy in the U.S. for their plutocrat masters.

Thoughts on the quality of our democracy.

More than twenty states are resisting requests for data from a ‘voter integrity’ Commission built on President Trump’s lie that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election.

Hillary Clinton is blaming everyone she can for her loss, except the most obvious suspects.

The Trump White House loses ts first major staffer, and more are likely to come.

Soon visitors to the White House will be able to see Donald Trump’s “yuge” election win on display for all to see.

How close to success is the National Popular Vote initiative? (Spoiler alert: not close).

As usual, an attempt to explain congressional behavior brings us back to the issue of our basic institutions. The way we elect congress matters.

Emmanuel Macron holds a decisive lead over Marine Le Pen as the French Presidential election heads into its final hours.

Donald Trump discovers reality.

Six months after the election, the postmortems of the Clinton campaign all seem to have one thing in common, they all point at things other than the candidate and her campaign as being the reason she lost.

French voters face a stark choice in the May 7th runoff for President. Hopefully, they’ll make the correct choice.