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.

Ted Cruz surges to a lead in the latest Iowa poll, setting up a seemingly inevitable showdown between the Texas Senator and Donald Trump.

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.

A divided Supreme Court heard argument today in a case involving affirmative action in college admissions that is before the Court for the second time in two years.

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.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in a case that could have big implications for redistricting, and the make-up of state legislatures and the House of Representatives.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have mostly avoided attacking each other, but if the polls are any indication that detente may be about to come to an end in the Hawkeye State.

I am having a hard time seeing a system of districts based on eligible voters and not simply population.

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.

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.

Donald Trump just keeps leading in the polls, and Republicans keep arguing that it can’t last.

After requesting a 30 day extension to reply to the Federal Government’s request for appeal in the case challenging President Obama’s immigration executive action, the states get only eight days.

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.

A Dallas man was kicked off a flight home from New York City because he had unknowingly cut off a flight crew member while going through a revolving door. This seems like a case of discretion gone way too far.

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.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey remain high in the wake of yesterday’s incident, but there are some signs that things are starting to cool down.

Another poll shows Ted Cruz rising and Ben Carson falls in the Hawkeye State. The only question is who attacks who first, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz?

The Obama Administration is asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling that kept a hold on last year’s immigration execution action in place.

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.

Paradoxically, the children of affluent parents are less happy than those of the poor.

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

Different criteria than in the past, but there may not be much of a change in the participants.

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.

Much more so than in the past, the race for the Republican Presidential race has become a battle to define what it means to be a ‘conservative.’ Especially on issues like immigration and national security, one side seems to be winning the battle.

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.

The Supreme Court has accepted a case involving a new Texas abortion law for review, the first abortion rights case it will hear in eight years.

Last night’s debate in Wisconsin was arguably the most substantive we’ve seen so far between the Republican candidates, and one that displayed quite starkly the policy differences between them.

President Obama’s executive action on immigration suffered another setback in court late yesterday.

Meet Ted Cruz: Religious Bigot

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.

Why Republicans nominate moderates for president and not other offices.

Fluctuations continue, but the Republican Presidential field appears to be sorting itself out as we near the beginning of a new phase of the campaign.

Houston voters rejected a broad anti-discrimination law largely due to a campaign that focused almost exclusively on concerns about transgender rights.

Today, many states and municipalities are having elections that will mostly attract Democrats.

Donald Trump remains the favorite of those likely to vote in New Hampshire’s Republican Primary, but Marco Rubio is starting to inch up in the polls in the Granite State.

Semantics aside, Carson has a clear relationship with a company whose products are nothing but junk science.

Paul Ryan’s admission that immigration reform will not happen as long as Barack Obama is President simply reflects the reality of immigration politics in Congress.

Marco Rubio has won the support of a top Republican donor and bundler, giving a much needed boost to his campaign.

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

As expected, the Senate easily passed the two-year budget deal early this morning.

Gross Domestic Product grew at a sluggish 1.5% in the just-concluded Third Quarter, calling the Federal Reserve’s apparent plan to raise interest rates at some point even further into question.

With only a handful of opposition, Paul Ryan was easily elected the 62nd Speaker of the House.

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.

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