Outside the Beltway

Rand Paul is carrying on a family tradition, winning the CPAC straw poll won many times by his father Ron.

With three days to go, there are signs the GOP is ready to give up on its showdown over DHS funding.

The Kentucky Senator and medical doctor claims an undergraduate degree he doesn’t have.

The House voted to repeal the PPACA for the 56th time, but it’s clear that this vote will end up being a pointless as all the others.

Scott Walker surged to the top of a new poll of Iowa Republicans, but Iowa is not a very good predictor of success in the race for the GOP nomination.

The Tea Party may be the most vocal wing of the GOP but most Republicans seems to favor candidates that aren’t quite so right wing.

The two decade long argument over same-sex marriage appears headed for its final legal showdown.

Even with a House and Senate majority, the GOP is unlikely to get what it wants in its current immigration battle with the President.

Just one day into the new Congress, the first confrontation is already set.

Several Tea Party backed Members of Congress claim to be challenging John Boehner in tomorrow’s vote for Speaker. They are, of course, delusional.

Shortly after the new year, we could know whether or not the Supreme Court will issue a definitive ruling on same-sex marriage by the end of June.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

Some on the left are suggesting Democrats should write off the South for the foreseeable future, but that would be as foolish as Republicans assuming that their dominance in the region will last as long as Democratic dominance did in the century after the Civil War.

Even leaving aside the fact that it is far too early to be making such assessments, the idea that Rand Paul is the front runner for the Republican nomination in 2016 fails the logic test.

The GOP donor class would like the 2016 race to be short and sweet, but that’s unlikely to happen.

While conservatives have been generally as appalled as others with the news out of Staten Island, some of them are looking in the wrong place for blame.

The numbers don’t lie, Mitt Romney remains popular among Republican voters.

When push comes to shove, top Republicans may still try to make Mitt Romney happen.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

The process that seems likely to lead to a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage has begun.

As things stand right now, there is no legitimate legal authorization for the President’s war against ISIS, and that’s largely because Congress has failed to act.

The GOP’s big wins last week seem to be just guaranteeing that this year’s battle between the Tea Party and the “establishment” will continue.

The GOP is dominant in the Southern United States, but it’s unlikely to last as long as Democratic dominance of the region did.

Voter Turnout was lower this year than in any midterm since the one held eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In addition to gains at the national level and in Governor’s races, the GOP also saw more gains in state legislatures around the country.

An unsurprising ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that only seems to bring closer the day when same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide.

The results of the 2014 midterms should teach us some lessons about how to handle and evaluate polling.

2014 was not supposed to be a wave election, but it clearly qualifies as one.

Time to look into the crystal ball.

Rebranding alone isn’t going to fix what’s causing the GOP to lose ground among a whole host of demographic groups.

The odds say that the GOP will end up with a Senate majority in the 114th Congress when all the votes are counted, but if it doesn’t happen then there’s likely to be quite a battle inside the GOP.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul continues to challenge Republican orthodoxy on foreign policy, and that’s a good thing.

Things are looking good for the GOP to take over the Senate, but there are still several right races that could tip the balance one way or the other.

Polls continue to show that most Americans are largely tuning the midterms out.

There’s at least a 50-50 chance we won’t know who controls the Senate until weeks after Election Day.

To a large degree, the Democratic Party’s supposed advantage among women voters appears to not exist this year.

It’s way too early, folks.

Sometimes, being evasive in answering a question just makes a politician look silly. This is one of those times.

Mike Huckabee is threatening to leave the GOP if the party backs down on same-sex marriage. He’s bluffing.

Individual polls are likely to be volatile, so don’t pay too much attention to them.

Is former Senator Larry Pressler surging in his Independent bid to win back his old Senate seat?

The death of the Tea Party is greatly exaggerated.

Could Alison Lundergran Grimes be surging? Maybe, but we’ll need more evidence to be sure.