Outside the Beltway

Last night’s one and only Nevada Senate Debate was an embarrassing affair all around, but it most likely sealed the electoral doom of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

A group of conservative activists is planning a last minute ad blitz that could help put several Republican challengers over the top.

After two months deep underground, thirty-three Chilean miners are finally back home.

Changing economic realities led to a role reversal: television is where you turn for smart entertainment, whereas the movies have become lowbrow.

Republicans are suddenly targeting — and Democrats in some cases are conceding — House seats that were until recently considered out of play.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia is under scrutiny ? Why ? Because she has a job.

Despite early rumors that she would be fired when she proved not to be worth $16 million a year, Katie Couric has hung on as anchor at CBS. But her contract’s up in May and CNN seems to be the highest bidder. If not the only bidder.

Like Sarah Palin, Christine O’Donnell is no fan of the press.

Responding to the rant that got Rick Sanchez fired, Slate’s Brian Palmer investigates the question, “Do Jews Really Control the Media?” His short answer, “Maybe the movies, but not the news.”

Stephen J. Cannel, the man behind “The Rockford Files” and “The A-Team,” had died at 69.

They might not be able to fix the economy or the healthcare system or agree on an efficient tax policy but Congress has managed to reach accord on one of the most serious problems facing America: loud television commercials.

Some old guy and the man who created “The Wire” are among this year’s recipients.

After several years in the wilderness, Dick Morris has returned as a Fox News analyst and, bizarrely, adviser to several Republican candidates for Congress.

Thanks to the Internet, there are a lot more Willy Lomans out there.

Apparently, Katy Perry’s dress was deemed too revealing for public television.

What’s so wrong with saying that America will survive even if al Qaeda manages to hit us again ?

Jon Stewart has made the transition into the post-Bush era much more effectively than his protege, Stephen Colbert.

In yet another sign of how rapidly the media landscape is changing, longtime Newsweek stalwart is leaving for the Huffington Post.

Is our problem that the very rich have too much money? Or that the rest of us don’t have enough?

In addition to Delaware, the Tea Party movement appears to have a shot to upset an establishment candidate in New York.

The political fight over the extension of the Bush tax cuts took a very interesting turn today.

Bryan Caplan argues that the fact so many kids in the developing world don’t go to school proves that education isn’t very valuable.

Has the digitization of entertainment — DVRs, iPods, iPods, digital cameras, Netflix, and so forth — transformed it from fun into work?

The writer of the infamous “Fonzie Jumps The Shark” episode of Happy Days breaks his silence.

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

FOX reports that the entire combat phase of the Iraq War will cost less than President Obama’s stimulus. That’s not a useful comparison.

Four news items and articles about China that have caught my eye.

Capitalizing on the buzz from his weekend rally, talk host Glenn Beck launched a new online magazine called The Blaze overnight.

Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally raises, yet again, the tiresome fight over crowd estimates and their political significance.

If Republicans regain control of Congress, you could be seeing a lot of scenes like this on your television for the next two years.

Despite raking in billions of dollars in television, ticket, and licensing revenues, all but 14 of the 106 schools in the NCAA’s top athletic division lost money in 2009. The median loss was over $10 million.

President Obama will be giving an address to schoolkids again this year. Stay tuned for the cries of “indoctrination !”

A shorter preseason and more meaningful games may come to fruition as soon as 2012.