Outside the Beltway

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul got a break today when CNN included him in the prime time debate on Tuesday even though he fell short of meeting the criteria.

The quadrennial fantasy of a brokered convention, which American politics has not seen since 1952, is rearing its head again, and it’s no more likely now than it was when we talked about this four years ago.

Notwithstanding the hopes of many Republicans, Donald Trump continues to be the person to beat in the race for the party’s 2016 Presidential nomination.

Donald Trump continues to have a commanding lead in the Granite State, but it’s unclear whether he can translate poll support into votes when the primary rolls around.

Donald Trump’s plan to bar all Muslim immigration to the United States is being widely condemned by his fellow Republicans and others, but the proposal probably won’t hurt him politically in a Republican Party that is deeply bigoted against Muslims in general.

Donald J. Trump continues to turn the dial higher and higher on his fascist demagoguery.

The no-fly list is a flawed, arbitrary mess that has kept innocent people from flying for years. Using it to deny people rights recognized by the Constitution is, quite honestly, insane.

No, there really haven’t been 355 ‘mass shootings’ since January 1st. Not unless you’re relying on completely unreliable data.

Donald Trump’s speech yesterday at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition was as bizarre as anything else we’ve seen from him.

For good reason, many Republicans are worried about the prospect that Donald Trump could end up winning the Republican nominee, but they don’t seem to have a plan to stop him.

Marco Rubio is telling conservative Christians in Iowa and elsewhere what they want to hear on same-sex marriage. It just happens to be complete and utter nonsense.

Given his rhetoric, it’s fairly clear that Donald Trump is drawing from a poisonous political well. So there’s no point in failing to acknowledge reality.

We still don’t know very much about Robert Dear, the man who shot and killed three people at the site of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, but that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from politicizing the case.

Chris Christie has gotten the endorsement of the biggest newspaper in New Hampshire, but it’s not clear that this will have any impact on the race.

Five months after Charleston, Mississippi is still struggling to rid itself of symbols of the Confederacy.

The GOP “establishment” isn’t planning to take on Donald Trump directly and instead relying on Republican primary voters to come to their senses. They may be waiting for something that will never happen.

A Chicago Police Officer has been charged with murder in the death of a 17 year old African-American male that, from the evidence that has been released, seems completely unjustifiable.

A former staffer for the House Select Committee investigation the attack in Benghazi is suing the Committee for improper employment practices, and Chairman Trey Gowdy for defamation.

In the news from the campaign trail and in the polls, there are clear signs that Ben Carson’s days as a top contender in the GOP Presidential race are coming to an end.

Even as the focus of the Presidential race shifts to national security, Donald Trump continues to lead the race.

Barring some event that would essentially be historically unprecedented, Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for President in 2016.

Seemingly disproving yet another round of predictions of his imminent demise, Donald Trump continues to dominate the race for the Republican nomination.

Syrian refugees have quickly become political footballs in the United States in the wake of the Paris attacks, and it’s become an exceedingly shameful display of pandering and fearmongering by a group of largely Republican politicians.

The initial responses of the Republican candidates for President to the attacks in Paris are about what you’d expect, but it’s far too early to tell what impact the events of the weekend will have on the race for President here in the United States.

Donald Trump’s latest tirade has led to another round of speculation as to whether or not he’s ‘gone too far’ and reached the beginning of the end of his campaign. Don’t count on it.

Ben Carson displays incoherence and ignorance on foreign policy issues that disqualify him from being considered a serious candidate for President of the United States.

A new poll provides further evidence that Hillary Clinton’s path to the Democratic nomination looks to be clear.

Increasingly concerned by the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and the failure of any establishment candidates to click with voters, some top Republicans are reportedly turning their lonely eyes to Mitt.

A new poll shows that a near majority of Republicans agree with even some of Donald Trump’s most controversial statements on immigration.

Ratings slipped for last night’s debate, but the numbers were still very respectable.

Candidates who have been excluded from tomorrow’s Fox Business Network are complaining, but their complaints ignore the fact that polling is the best objective criteria we have to determine debate eligibility.

Thanks apparently in part to body camera footage, two police officers in Louisiana are facing murder charges in the shooting death of a child during a police chase.

Republicans have apparently gone insane.

Representatives from most of the Republican Presidential campaigns met to discuss reforms to the debate process, but none of their ideas will actually improve the quality of debates.

Marco Rubio’s performance in this week’s debate is once again leading to speculation about whether is about to have a breakout moment.

Rand Paul is promising to filibuster the budget deal when it gets to the Senate, but it’s extremely unlikely he’ll be able to do anything but delay the inevitable.

Marco Rubio is taking heat for missing a lot of Senate votes since he started running for President, but he’s not really any worse than other legislators who have run for President.

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.

Another batch of polls confirms that Donald Trump has fallen from the top in the Hawkeye State.

A new poll shows that the Tea Party movement is more unpopular than it has ever been before, even among Republicans and conservatives.

Once the Republican frontrunner, Jeb Bush is now floundering and dealing with donors worried that they may be backing the wrong horse.

So close, and yet so very, very, far.

Two new Iowa polls show Ben Carson passing Donald Trump in the Hawkeye State, but that’s not necessarily good news for Republicans.

With the voting now seemingly a mere formality, the question becomes what kind of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will become.

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

Paul Ryan has never really wanted to be Speaker Of The House, but he’s take the job if House Republicans meet the conditions he’s set out.

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