Outside the Beltway

Some Republican Senators-elect are imploring Harry Reid not to consider any treaties during the lame duck session.

A Florida courthouse illegally saved 35,000 images from security scanners.

The incoming freshman of the 112th Congress say that they won’t repeat the mistakes that Republicans made when they gained power sixteen years ago, but some of the advice they’re getting virtually guarantees it will happen if they aren’t careful.

A ten year old case out of Texas raises yet more doubts about the justice of the death penalty.

As the counting of write-in ballots in Alaska continues to go in Lisa Murkowski’s favor, the Miller campaign is getting more desperate in its ballot challenges.

His career seemingly over after being trounced in an independent bid for the Senate, Florida Governor Charlie Crist is turning his attention to the pressing matter of three-decade-old conviction of a long dead pop singer.

An NBC analysis shows Tea Party candidates winning only 5 of 10 Senate races and 40 of 130 House races, a success rate of only 32 percent.

Last night’s election results stand as a mixed verdict on the Tea party and its impact on the Republican Party.

The enthusiasm for Tea Party candidates likely helped the House Republican wave. But it also likely cost the GOP four Senate seats that it would otherwise have won — and thus the majority.

Who are the Tea Party candidates and who will be the Tea Party office holders?

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

Former President Clinton tried to convince Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race, because Democrats know that Charlie Crist had chance to win and Meek did not.

Once again, the political media is wringing it’s hands over “negative” ads. As usual, it’s all a bunch of nonsense.

Political columnist John Heilemann thinks he’s come up with a scenario that would put Sarah Palin in the White House, but his assumptions don’t add up.

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

Politico says 99 Democratic House seats are “in play.” They’re not. But dozens are.

An English instructor commenting at Balloon Juice takes issue with my characterization of taxation as “confiscating” income.

Today’s college students are 40 percent less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Is our political culture to blame?

Sarah Palin is at the center of a divide within the GOP that could become larger even as the GOP comes closer to regaining control of Congress.

A Federal Judge in Florida has handed a significant, albeit procedural, victory to the opponents of ObamaCare.

Politicians are, by definition, a bit abnormal. However, this year we seem to have more than our fair share of the truly odd.

As widely rumored, Fredi Gonzalez has been hired to manage the Atlanta Braves, following the retirement of the beloved Bobby Cox.

Republicans are suddenly targeting — and Democrats in some cases are conceding — House seats that were until recently considered out of play.

Are we facing a Sharia take-over?

If Sarah Palin isn’t running for President, why is she comparing herself to Ronald Reagan ?

The new health care law’s individual mandate has survived it’s first legal challenge, and that’s not really a surprise.

Thomas Friedman engages in some early speculation about a serious third party presidential run. As usual, such speculation ignores the basic structures of American politics.

A new projection of Congressional reapportionment shows a dramatic shift to traditionally Republican states in the South and Southwest.

In comments this morning, Justice Stephen Breyer seemed to suggest that Koran burning might not necessarily be Constitutionally protected.

Taking a short trip back in time via Instapundit’s archives reveals a September 11th post that turned out to be prophetic.

The media is now starting to look at it’s own role in the whole Koran burning story, but the truth is that there really wasn’t any way they could’ve ignored the story.

Over the course of a little more than two hours, the “Burn A Koran Day” story merged with the “Ground Zero Mosque” story in a bizarre media circus that seems to have accomplished little other than give press attention to a bigoted Pastor in Florida.

After weeks of trailing Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist in a three-way race, Republican Marco Rubio is leading the Florida Senate race.

A new poll indicates that there are some disturbing motivations that seem to be associated with opposition to the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”

Everyone from David Petraeus to Sarah Palin is speaking out against a nutbag pastor’s Koran burning event. While they’re right, they’re emphasizing the wrong message.