Outside the Beltway

Charles Krauthammer called Donald Trump the “Al Sharpton” of the GOP presidential primary contest

What is Donald Trump up to? Only he seems to know for sure.

Nate Silver argues today’s polls “have a reasonable amount of predictive power in informing us as to the identity of the eventual nominee.”

Michele Bachmann raised more money in the First Quarter of 2011 than any other Republican. Which means that she’ll have to be taken seriously if she decides to run for President.

The next week promises to be a battle between John Boehner and the Tea Party over whether or not compromise is a good idea.

Quite improbably, Mike Huckabee seems to be positioned at the top of the GOP field right now. The only question is whether he really wants to run for President again.

The race for the 2012 Republican nomination is missing the one thing that GOP nomination battles have almost always had, a frontrunner.

They say anyone can grow up to be president. Michele Bachmann is apparently taking them at their word.

With minor exceptions, all of the potential candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 seem to have accepted the idea that defense spending, and the Bush-era interventionist foreign policy, are off the table when it comes time to talk spending cuts.

There’s still time for Sarah Palin to burnish her political reputation. But she probably won’t.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is beginning to more like a real candidate for President. She won’t win, but she will be entertaining.

All of the plausible Republican contenders for 2012 have significant downsides.

Huge news in the marriage equality debate today as the Obama Administration has decided not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court anymore.

Florida has again scheduled its primary ahead of the deadlines set by the Republican and Democratic parties.

Facebook has come up with new settings to meet the needs of users in same-sex relationships.

Rick Santorum is upset that a Google search for his name produces a string of unflattering material. You should be, too.

The White House Press Office produces a blog, YouTube channel, Flickr photo stream, Facebook and Twitter profiles, and daily video programming.

The 2012 GOP nominee will have to raise $300 million and assemble a top-notch staff.

Ron Paul is poised to win the CPAC Straw Poll. So what?

Once again, it looks like efforts to reform the Senate’s filibuster rules have fallen victim to that old devil politics.

Despite a bad week and a half, there are still signs that Sarah Palin is at least looking at a run for the White House in 2012. Which may be why some Republicans seem to be getting worried about her.

The filibuster reform package that Senate Democrats unveiled yesterday has much to recommend to it. Unfortunately, it’s probably doomed.

Anti-Immigrant groups are beginning their assault on the 14th Amendment, but don’t expect it to go anywhere.

Might Rudy do better in 2012 than he did in 2008?

Red States should gain 10 seats while Blue States should lose eight.

New polling shows that Mitt Romney is well behind the Fox News candidates for 2012.

Even though it will likely be unsuccessful, a primary challenge against President Obama could end up harming him enough to hand Republicans the White House in 2012.