Outside the Beltway

As expected, Republicans have caved in the showdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

Now that they control all of Congress, some Republicans are suddenly deciding that the filibuster should be repealed.

Rand Paul is carrying on a family tradition, winning the CPAC straw poll won many times by his father Ron.

Scott Walker surged to the top of a new poll of Iowa Republicans, but Iowa is not a very good predictor of success in the race for the GOP nomination.

Conservatives finally seem to be waking up to the truth about Sarah Palin.

Advantage: Hillary.

The Tea Party may be the most vocal wing of the GOP but most Republicans seems to favor candidates that aren’t quite so right wing.

He’s tan. He’s rested. And, apparently, he’s ready. Mitt Romney seems very interested in 2016 all of a sudden.

The terror attack in Paris seems likely to undercut GOP efforts to use the DHS budget to attack the President’s immigration policies.

Over the weekend, Mike Huckabee took another step that suggests that he is indeed planning on running for President in 2016.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is not running for President, and she is unlikely to change her mind on that. Nonetheless, the speculation that she is will continue for some time to come because it suits her interests and the interests of others.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

Rick Santorum looks to be getting ready to hit the campaign trail again, but it’s doubtful he can find appeal beyond the religious conservatives who supported him in 2012.

Even leaving aside the fact that it is far too early to be making such assessments, the idea that Rand Paul is the front runner for the Republican nomination in 2016 fails the logic test.

It looks like Congress has averted a budget fight for the second straight year.

The GOP donor class would like the 2016 race to be short and sweet, but that’s unlikely to happen.

How will Republicans react if, as many expect, the Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage across the nation?

The House approved a bill to protest the President’s executive action on immigration that will go nowhere. The question is whether it will placate the right.

Ben Carson is not a serious candidate for President, but he’s likely to get a lot of support from the GOP’s Tea Party wing.

It’s an old story. Republican leadership wants to avoid a government shutdown, but the hard core conservatives want a fight, this time over the President’s immigration action. We have a week to see how it unfolds.

After a disastrous campaign in 2012, Texas Governor Rick Perry appears to be gearing up for a new run for the White House in 2016, but questions remain.

The numbers don’t lie, Mitt Romney remains popular among Republican voters.

Fresh off his third statewide win in four years, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears to be getting ready to run for President.

In the end, there appears to be very little, if anything, the GOP can do to stop or roll back the executive actions the President will announce Thursday evening.

Another round of election losses is leading Democrats to contemplate the direction they should take going forward.

Republicans don’t really have many options if the President pulls the trigger on immigration reform via executive action.

Mike Huckabee seems to be making the moves necessary to run for President again, For reasons only he can understand.

The GOP’s big wins last week seem to be just guaranteeing that this year’s battle between the Tea Party and the “establishment” will continue.

Obama proposes four ‘net neutrality’ rules.

Scott Walker argues that Governors tend to make the best Presidents. He’s largely correct, but he’s not the only Republican who fits that bill.

Despite the conciliatory language after Tuesday, it’s unlikely that much will change in Washington in the next two years.

The odds say that the GOP will end up with a Senate majority in the 114th Congress when all the votes are counted, but if it doesn’t happen then there’s likely to be quite a battle inside the GOP.

The Supreme Court’s expansion of same-sex marriage seems to be sitting well with the American public.

It’s way too early, folks.

Mike Huckabee is threatening to leave the GOP if the party backs down on same-sex marriage. He’s bluffing.

The Supreme Court has given the GOP a way out of a battle that they are going to lose anyway.

The die is cast.

Combining politics, an incessantly sensationalist news cycle, and a virus that scares a lot of people can’t end well.

It has nothing to do with winning, but it does have a lot to do with the foreign policy debate inside the Republican Party.

Closing down international air travel won’t stop Ebola from becoming a bigger public health threat.