Outside the Beltway

Most Americans have never even heard of it.

It is not a tool to foster compromise. It is tool of obstruction, plain and simple.

The bane of the Trump presidency is already thwarting President Biden.

Let me point you to a reform proposal.

Granted, there are more than two. But from a political science/political history POV, these two stick out in my mind.

Was Trump’s attempt to overturn the outcome a one-off or a sign of things to come?

But, still very bad.

A reminder that narratives are narratives and data are data.

Some thoughts on voter enthusiasm and EV scenarios.

The two parties learned different lessons from the last contested election.

What meanings might the Founders have had? How should we understand the term?

The rules for counting votes matter.

Some numbers from PA and a CNN poll that gives Biden a huge lead.

Having the topic of political reform start to seep into pop culture is a good thing.

A fundamental building block of our system makes it nearly impossible to fix.

A partial response in the context of a complex topic.

The convergence of design flaws in the constitution and a flawed leader have brought us to brink of an electoral crisis.

Having failed to prevent or contain it, aggressive stupidity is now washing over us.

A too-long discourse on how courts should function.

Lee Drutman’s Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop

Not that one. The other one.

How to translate understandable frustration at injustice into tangible reform?

The conversation continues. (Warning: it is over 3000 words).

A further attempt to explain how party is such a key variable.

Who can keep count?

Cable news “experts” frequently aren’t.

Schools were going to be open today. They’re closing after parent pressure.

A law professor makes a bad argument in favor of a pet policy.

It comports with the polling.

How Iowa works.

The literature on term limits is not a favorable one.

Democratic Congressman Jeff van Drew of New Jersey is reportedly switching parties

Alliance to party trumps alliance to branch.

A new report details the extent to which the eighteen-year Afghanistan War has been marked by mistakes, and lies by the government to cover-up the fact that we went to war without a clear understanding of what we were doing.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden continues to hold a strong lead in South Carolina even while slipping in other early states.

One political scientist says yes. A bunch of others say wait, what?

A big win for ranked-choice voting in the Big Apple as voters approve a referendum that will bring ranked-choice voting to the nation’s most populous city.

Republicans in general and Donald Trump in particular suffered a big loss in the Kentucky Governor’s race.

Former North Caroline Senator Kay Hagan has died,

An iconic and honorable Member of Congress has passed away.

Concluding thoughts (for the moment).

A great public intellectual, pioneering blogger, and all-around good man is gone.

President Trump has named his pick for Labor Secretary.

Susan Collins hasn’t officially announced her intentions for 2020 just yet, but she looks like she’s running for re-election. If she does, she appears to be facing some political headwinds.

While mildly embarrassing, it’s unlikely to have much impact on the race.

Thad Cochran, who represented Mississippi in Congress for 45 years, has died at the age of 81.

Trump’s penchant for behaving more like a talk radio host than a POTUS continues unabated.