Outside the Beltway

President Obama easily won re-election last night, carrying virtually all of the battleground states. Meanwhile, abortion, gay marriage, and recreational marijuana also won big.

It’s just a few days until the 2012 campaign ends, and the jostling for position for 2016 begins.

Hillary Clinton doesn’t have much sympathy for her former aide’s inability to “have it all.”

Falling on the sword?

Expectations are high for Paul Ryan heading in to Thursday’s Vice-Presidential debate. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Not surprisingly, television and reality don’t really coincide.

Both campaigns are trying to set the stage for Wednesday’s debate.

More than two weeks after four Americans — including the U.S. ambassador to Libya — were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, FBI agents have not yet been granted access to investigate in the eastern Libyan city, and the crime scene has not been secured.

The Obama Administration’s response to the protests in the Muslim world has been entirely wrongheaded.

The Administration’s narrative regarding the attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens no longer holds water.

It may not be the one thing that costs him election, but Mitt Romney’s remarks about the “47 percent” are still a problem for his campaign.

Mitt Romney’s foreign policy weaknesses are starting to become apparent.

Mitt Romney’s initial response to the attacks in Egypt and Libya displayed a tendency to jump the gun rather than wait for the facts.

A day of protests over a film nobody has ever heard of has lead to the death of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.

Last night, Bill Clinton hit one out of the park for the President Of The United States.

Obama heads into his convention in a good position, but with several potential pitfalls in his path.

Not surprisingly, Romney campaigns staffers don’t seem to want to take responsibility for Clint Eastwood’s performance last night.

Maybe the real problem this year isn’t that the campaign is unduly nasty, but that it’s incredibly petty.

At some point, however, using the bad actions of the past to justify worse actions in the present has to stop.

No, Barack Obama is not going to dump Joe Biden before the Democratic Convention.

Moderate Republicans in the House are starting to become more assertive in voicing their frustrations with how Congress is operating.

Michele Bachmann and several other Members of Congress are engaging in the despicable tactics of Joe McCarthy.

The Romney campaign has apparently decided to be more aggressive in its attacks on the President, which poses serious risks for the campaign.

Opponents of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United continue to miss the point of what the case was really about.

The 1976 Pulitizer prize winner is phoning it in.

If not Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, who might the Democrats have to choose from in 2016?

There is a disturbing trend in Western nations toward enforcement of laws against “insulting” religions.

The president has come a long way from his days as a “liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war.”

The “Clinton-Biden Switcheroo” Scenario is the pundit’s fantasy that will not die.

When Dan Drezner tweeted “I’m not going to read anything dumber than this today,” my inclination was to scoff. He actually undersold it.

The blind Chinese activist who daring escape from house arrest set off a diplomatic brouhaha that grabbed the world’s attention is about to get his wish to come to America.

The argument that Barack Obama hasn’t been vetted is simply absurd.

The GOP’s response to the Obama campaign’s Osama bin Laden ad has not been helpful.

Some Navy SEALs are weighing in on the brouhaha.

Is Mitt Romney the least experienced major-party presidential nominee since1940?

The Obama campaign’s cheap politicizing of the SEAL raid that took out bin Laden is unseemly. And unnecessary.

The Senate didn’t have a productive 2011. Is this just a case of laziness?

Photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton taken in Fayetteville, Arksansas in 1975, the year they married.