Outside the Beltway

Why Republicans nominate moderates for president and not other offices.

The debate stages for both the undercard and main debate next Tuesday will look different from what we’ve become used to.

Virginia Democrats tried to capture control of the Virginia State Senate by, in part, emphasizing gun control issues. The fact that they failed is instructive.

Republicans have apparently gone insane.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

A man with one of the more unique political and personal resumes in recent memory has passed away.

Marco Rubio has won the support of a top Republican donor and bundler, giving a much needed boost to his campaign.

Thanks mostly to well-founded demographic concerns, China is ending the ‘One Child’ policy, but it is probably too late for them to avoid the consequences of the forty year program.

While it did draw 14 million viewers, last night’s CNBC debate had the smallest audience of any Presidential debate so far. That was probably a good thing for CNBC considering how bad the debate was.

Compromise is simply necessary for the country to function.

One unqualified outsider with a history of saying outrageous things replaces another unqualified outsider with a history of saying outrageous things, at least according to yet another new poll.

Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal on the budget and debt ceiling that promises to make Paul Ryan’s initial months as Speaker a lot easier.

The nurse who was detained by New Jersey officials in a quarantine despite not displaying any symptoms of Ebola is suing Chris Christie and others for civil liberties violations.

After an eleven hour day on Capitol Hill, it was Hillary Clinton 1 House Benghazi Committee 0.

As the House Select Benghazi Committee continues to question Hillary Clinton, a new poll finds that the vast majority of Americans view its work as political rather than part of an objective investigation.

Two new polls show that political efforts to enact more stringent gun control at the national level are not likely to succeed.

What will likely be the apex of the House Select Committee’s investigation of the Benghazi attack begins and ends today with the testimony of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

To the surprise of nobody who was actually paying attention to political reality, Vice-President Biden announced today that he will not be a candidate for President.

A pair of new polls confirms that Republican hopes that Donald Trump would fade are failing to come true.

Jim Webb’s campaign for the Democratic nomination has been largely forgettable, so now he’s apparently threatening to run as an Independent.

A new poll shows an up-tick in public support for some gun control measures, but gun control advocates can’t ignore the political reality that says those restrictions are unlikely to ever become law.

If pre-election polling is to be believed, Stephan Harper and Canada’s Conservative Party seem likely to lose power after Monday’s elections, but there are several reasons why this may not end up being the case.

Another Republican Congressman has said that the Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attack is primarily concerned with scoring political points against Hillary Clinton.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders may think otherwise, but many Americans do care about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State.

In addition to doing everything she needed to do last night, Hillary Clinton also destroyed whatever logic remained for a Joe Biden candidacy.

In the wake of failure that could have been easily foreseen, the Obama Administration is ending a program to train so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels.

Another political earthquake in Washington as Kevin McCarthy drops out of the race for Speaker, and the House GOP doesn’t seem to know which way to go.

Obama’s first Secretary of State has come out against Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership.

An FCC rule from a bygone era may get Bernie Sanders and company some time on NBC.

With time running out for him to make a decision, a new report shows how deeply Vice President Biden has been in stirring up the speculation that is now surrounding him.

A woman who has been running for President for at least eight years is apparently having trouble explaining why she wants to be President.

In the wake of yesterday’s shootings in Oregon, President Obama took the airwaves to offer the same empty rhetoric he has on this issue in the past, and to make the false claim that there are simple solutions to what is a very complex problem.

September’s Jobs Report was disappointing to say the least, and calls into question the Federal Reserve’s apparent plan to raise interest rates in the near future.

Up to 13 people are dead and as many 20 injured after another mass shooting on a college campus.

The criteria for next month’s third Republican Presidential debate have been announced, and they’re likely to end up being bad news for several Republican candidates.

Congress will get a temporary funding bill passed in time to avoid a shutdown on Thursday, but it may just be delaying the inevitable.

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

The seeds of the current peace deal date back to 2007-2008 (plus some longer-term background notes).

The final GDP revision for the second quarter showed the economy grew at a nearly four percent rate.

Big news out of Washington, D.C.

A true legend has passed.

The Club For Growth has released two ads criticizing Donald Trump, so of course Trump is threatening to sue them.

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

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.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the foreign policy discussion at last night’s debate was about as bad as you’d expect.

The Republican candidates for President took to the stage last night for a debate that seemed to last forever and accomplished nothing.

Polling shows that Republicans increasingly see Donald Trump as Presidential and trustworthy. The rest of America disagrees.