Outside the Beltway

Chris Christie has had a very good month, and it’s ending with him with a strong lead among potential Republican candidates for 2016.

Yesterday’s change to the filibuster rule is likely to have little impact outside the beltway and the political chattering class.

It wasn’t a Thermonuclear move, more like something the size of Hiroshima, but today the Senate took an historic move nonetheless.

After the GOP blocked a series of Obama judicial nominees, Democrats are again threatening to go nuclear on filibuster reform.

The Junior Senator from Kentucky does some re-writing of history.

Legislation to ban discrimination in employment against gays and lesbians is set to make major gains in the Senate.

A partial setback for the pro-life crowd out of Texas.

The deal emerging out of the talks between Senator Reid and Senator McConnell is about what you’d expect, but it’s probably the best we can expect right now.

Ted Cruz wants his fellow Republicans to follow him down the rabbit hole again.

Democrats in the House will attempt to use an obscure House procedure to force an end to the government shutdown. It’s success is by no means guaranteed.

If nothing else, Ted Cruz’s quixotic mission has succeeded in cementing him in the minds of Republican voters.

Nazi comparisons are only helpful when discussing actual Nazis.

Can differences in media coverage of two unrelated filibusters be explained solely by media bias?

Ted Cruz is holding the Senate floor “until I can no longer speak,” but he still won’t be able to stop the Senate from going forward.

Nobody has moved a piece yet, but the outcome of the Obamacare battle in the Senate seems foreordained.

With Congress coming back Monday, the prospective vote counts are decidedly against authorizing military force against Syria.

Not surprisingly, Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are lining up behind the President in the debate over Syria.

Some thoughts on reform.

Ted Cruz is either being incredibly cynical as he deludes his fellow Republicans, or he’s living in a fantasy world.

A top Republican Senator blasts the plan by some of his colleagues to “defund” Obamacare.

Some interesting taking of sides is already taking place in the GOP Senate race in Wyoming.

Once again, the threat of the “nuclear option” appears to have had less megatonnage than some expected and others hoped.

The Senate may be headed for an historic confrontation today if an 11th hour deal isn’t reached.

Low voter priorities and the natural tendency of the media to move on to the next big story meant that gun control was not going to be a top political issue for long.

Texas has become the latest state to attempt to restrict abortion rights, and North Carolina isn’t far behind.

Harry Reid is supposedly making another run at filibuster reform.

Liberal leaders want Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire so President Obama can appoint her successor. She wants to hang around another decade.

The Texas Legislature is putting up its controversial abortion bill again, but don’t expect things do end the way they did last week.

There seem to be some signs that defense hawks in the GOP are concerned about Rand Paul’s growing popularity in the party.

A thirteen hour filibuster by Wendy Davis ran out the clock on a special session of the Texas legislature, apparently defeating an abortion bill that passed 19-10 after time expired.

Denied her chance at being Secretary of State, Susan Rice will be moving to a position that is arguably just as important in shaping American foreign policy.

President Obama threw down a gauntlet today in the form of a trio of Judicial nominations.

The Boston Marathon bomber must be tried in a court of law.