Outside the Beltway

They’ve won the elections, but Republicans still aren’t getting specific about exactly where they’d cut Federal spending.

The race between Jeb Hensarling and Michelle Bachmann for Chair of the House GOP Conference is a microcosm for a battle that is likely to take place within the GOP for the next two years.

Will the incoming “Tea Party” caucus in the House and Senate force the GOP to reconsider its views on foreign policy? Don’t count on it.

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

Senator DeMint provides the basic answers to my Tea Party/GOP questions from earlier today.

Exit polls reveal a shocking bit of information: voters aren’t happy with either party.

A question about the next Congress.

Who are the Tea Party candidates and who will be the Tea Party office holders?

Ok, so we’ve been talking about the Tea Party for months. What will that label means once we actually have elections and move on to the governing bit?

The GOP is headed for big gains on Tuesday. The only question now is how big they’re going to be.

National Republicans are reportedly abandoning Joe Miller’s Senate campaign at the last minute out of fear that only Lisa Murkowski can stop Alaska’s Senate seat from falling into Democratic hands. That could have a serious impact down the road for relations between inside-the-beltway Republicans and the Tea Party.

Newt Gingrich for President ? You might want to think twice about that, Republicans.

Another poll confirms that Sarah Palin continues to be viewed negatively by the majority of American voters, but that doesn’t seem to matter to supporters who seem have a degree of adulation usually reserved for celebrities than serious politicians.

Gallup’s final pre-election poll gives Republicans a 15 point advantage over Democrats, compared to only 5 points in 1994.

The GOP looks likely to win substantial victories next Tuesday, and may even take control of both Houses of Congress, but they’ve already made their own failure inevitable.

Mike Huckabee is the latest Republican to tack up the banner against the so-called “elites.”

A call for ideological purity in the Democratic Party in today’s New York Times demonstrates that Democrats can be just as foolish as Republicans.

Thanks to races in as many six states that may be decided by absentee and write-in ballots, we may not know the outcome of the 2010 Elections for several weeks after Election Day.

Voters head to the polls in thirteen days, and current indications are that they’ll be handing a big victory to the Republican Party.

Sarah Palin is at the center of a divide within the GOP that could become larger even as the GOP comes closer to regaining control of Congress.

The Washington Post looks around and discovers that the Tea Party isn’t racist after all. Their bad, I guess.

More bad news for Democrats as a new poll shows that voters are more likely to consider them extreme than Republicans.

The Alaska Republican says he won’t answer questions about alleged misconduct as a public official, deeming it “personal.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has endorsed Ron Klein, who never served a day in uniform, over retired LTC Allen West, a decorated veteran of several foreign wars. Is this an outrage?

If the Republicans win back Congress in November, it will be largely unearned. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no incentive for change in American politics.

Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts President Obama’s re-election. Historically, that’s the safe bet.

Thomas Friedman engages in some early speculation about a serious third party presidential run. As usual, such speculation ignores the basic structures of American politics.

Even with some key seats trending Democrat, Republicans are primed to take over both Houses of Congress come November 2.

More than ever before in the past, Fox News Channel will be the exclusive medium through which many of the candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination communicate with the public. And that’s a problem.

Public trust in Congress is at an all time low, again, and the public doesn’t trust either party to fix things.

Tracking “freedom” and American defense spending provides some interesting insights.

In 1994, it was the Contract With America. In 2010, it’s the Pledge To America. But does it really mean anything regardless of what it’s called ?

For the moment, the Tea Party movement is helping pull the GOP out of a slump that seemed like it would continue for a long time. Will it last, or will the movement end up doing for Republicans what the left has done for Democrats ?

While Sarah Palin is viewed unfavorably by half of likely voters, they nonetheless think her views are more like their own than President Obama’s.

Could Mike Pence make the leap from the House of Representatives to the White House ? It’s possible, but history and the likely GOP field in 2012 suggest it would be very difficult.

Is Sarah Palin running for President in 2012 ? It’s looking more and more likely that the answer might be yes.

Lisa Murkowski is the worst kind of sore loser candidate, willing to screw over her party’s voters and her own donors to keep her seat

Now we get to see how the Tea Party effects the GOP ove the medium to long term.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appears to be quietly putting together the beginnings of a campaign for President of the United States. Don’t count him out by any means.

While Republicans will likely take over some key governorships and state legislature after November’s midterms, America’s changing demographics will limit their ability to gerrymander safe districts.