Outside the Beltway

Vice-President Biden will apparently not be at the first Democratic debate, which may be yet another sign that he’s not running for President.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus suggested that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t get used to their place at the top of the primary calendar. He’s right, but fixing the crazy system that put them there isn’t going to be easy.

The next Republican debate is likely to be a lot smaller than the previous two, and that could prove fatal for several candidates.

Two gone: 14 to go.

Once a candidate that many believed could become the Republican nominee, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is dropping out of the race for President.

The pressure on Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to expand the 2016 debate schedule is increasing.

Hillary Clinton seems to be bouncing back from recent troubles in the latest national poll, but Vice-President Biden is starting to rise in the polls before even getting in the race.

The first significant national polls taken in the wake of last week’s debate show that Donald Trump has slipped somewhat, but still remains the clear leader of the Republican race for President.

Time is running out for Joe Biden to make a decision about running for President, and it’s still not clear what he’ll do.

At a town hall last night in New Hampshire, it became clear just what kind of supporters Donald Trump’s demagoguery is attracting.

Even taking the fact that he is the Republican frontrunner into account, Donald Trump is getting a disproportionate amount of attention from the political media.

Ben Carson has no government experience, he has a history of saying things that don’t seem grounded in reality, and he lacks the resources for a credible campaign. And yet, he’s closing in on Donald Trump in the polls.

To listen to many of the Republican candidates for President, it would appear that the lights have been turned out on Ronald Reagan’s shining city on a hill.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson remain at the top of the Republican Presidential field heading into the second debate on Wednesday.

We won’t have Rick Perry to kick around anymore.

Scott Walker used to have a commanding lead in Iowa, now he’s in 7th place. That’s just another sign of the troubles facing his campaign.

Bernie Sanders has jumped ahead of Hillary Clinton in the Hawkeye State.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is doing a reset in the face of declining poll numbers and bad press.

Bernie Sanders continues to cause Hillary Clinton problems, and Joe Biden could cause more if he enters the race.

The 2016 election will be fought on a very small battlefield, and right now the makeup of that battlefield heavily favors the Democrats.

Two candidates with no political experienced whatsoever are tied in Iowa as Republican voters continue to reject anyone with political experience.

Scott Walker and Chris Christie apparently think that the key to turning around their dying campaigns is to pander to the people supporting Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform.

A new poll shows Bernie Sanders gaining traction outside of New Hampshire for the first time.

Jeb Bush’s campaign has been in a rough patch for several weeks at least, and now he’s lost three top fundraisers.

Some of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic opponents are complaining about the DNC’s parsimonious debate schedule.

Hillary Clinton has a bit of a public image problem, but it’s not clear if that will hurt her politically.

Carly Fiorina will most likely be excluded from CNN’s prime time debate in September, so of course her campaign is complaining about rules that were established months ago.

Another poll shows Bernie Sanders doing will in New Hampshire, but there’s no evidence he’s catching on anywhere else in the country.

Donald Trump’s support in the polls appears to become coming largely from people who don’t typically vote in primary elections.

Republican officials in three states are looking at ways to keep Donald Trump off the primary ballot unless he pledges to support the eventual GOP nominee.

Joe Biden may want to run for President, but does anyone else? It doesn’t really seem like it.

Even if Donald Trump isn’t the Republican nominee in 2016, he could still end up causing real harm to the party’s chances of winning the White House and holding on to the Senate.

Thanks in part to a slow summer news cycle, the speculation about Vice-President Biden entering the race for President seems to be reaching a fever pitch.

Scott Walker is flip-flopping on immigration again, while his poll numbers sink like a stone.

If we are gong to assess the significance of Trump, we need to pay attention to the numbers.

For a variety of reasons, it’s unlikely that the Republican field will shrink significantly before the Iowa Caucuses.

The reports about Vice-President Biden possibly entering the Presidential race continue to persist.

There are no “anchor babies,” there are only Americans.

Donald Trump is still in the lead of the Republican circus, but the rest of the field remains uncertain in the wake of the first debate.

The POLITICO gang report that a “Joe Biden strategy for [a] White House run [is] taking shape.”

“Fiscal conservative” Scott Walker is handing Wisconsin taxpayers a $400 million bill for a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks.

A new poll shows Bernie Sanders ahead of Hillary Clinton, but within the margin of error, in New Hampshire. But a deeper examination suggests that Bernie-mentum is a mile wide and an inch deep.

Rick Perry’s campaign is already showing signs that it may not last long.

The fallout from Donald Trump’s debate performance, and his comments afterward, continues, and it’s leading some to wonder if we may finally be at the end of this ridiculous charade.

Donald’s Trump’s campaign is the logical conclusion of more than a decade of emotion-drive, substance-free politics.

The last three polls to be released before Thursday’s debate show Donald Trump continuing to solidify his lead.

In 1992, an eccentric billionaire ran an independent campaign against a Bush and a Clinton. It could happen again.

Jason Kottke points me to Stan Carey’s summary of Jack Grieve’s study of regional variations in swearing patterns across the United States.