Outside the Beltway

With the Vermont Senator holding a seemingly insurmountable lead in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders and HIllary Clinton clashed last night in their most contentious debate yet.

Reports of discrepancies in the counting of ballots in the Democratic Caucus in Iowa reveal yet again why the caucus process is outdated and ought to be abandoned.

Ted Cruz won, Marco Rubio surged into a stronger than expected third place, and Donald Trump was humbled just a little bit, but he was hardly a “loser.” The race for the GOP nomination has begun for real.

We will have a two party system for the foreseeable future.

There have been many arguments that polling has over-stated Donald Trump’s actual level of support among likely Republican voters, but there’s also a good argument that they are understating it and that Trump may do better when people start voting than many think.

Marine Le Pen suffered setbacks in the second round of regional voting on Sunday, but the party still seems likely to become more popular in the coming years.

Should Donald Trump be classified as a fascist?

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.

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The United States and Europe are giving everything the perpetrators of the Paris attacks hoped for.

After thirty years in Federal Prison, Jonathan Pollard is a free man. Make no mistake, though. Pollard is not, and never has been, a hero and he deserves to be remembered as nothing but the criminal that he is.

John Kasich wants the United States Government to create an agency to spread ‘so-called ‘Judeo-Christian values.’

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.

Why Republicans nominate moderates for president and not other offices.

Forget about Congress, the real story going forward is likely to be Republican dominance of state legislatures nationwide.

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

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

To the surprise of nobody who was actually paying attention to political reality, Vice-President Biden announced today that he will not be a candidate for President.

If pre-election polling is to be believed, Stephan Harper and Canada’s Conservative Party seem likely to lose power after Monday’s elections, but there are several reasons why this may not end up being the case.

In addition to doing everything she needed to do last night, Hillary Clinton also destroyed whatever logic remained for a Joe Biden candidacy.

California has become the second state to provide for automatic voter registration for all eligible voters when they obtain or renew a driver’s license.

The seeds of the current peace deal date back to 2007-2008 (plus some longer-term background notes).

When did “politics” become a dirty word?

Joe Biden may want to run for President, but does anyone else? It doesn’t really seem like it.

Like many Republicans, Jeb Bush continues to be willfully blind to the truth about the Iraq War.

A Federal Appeals Court has dealt a setback to Texas in the battle over its Voter ID Law.

Public opinion on the Supreme Court has declined significantly, largely because Republicans don’t like the Supreme Court very much right now.

We are still a ways from actual voting–this needs to be remembered.

While “fundamentals” will have more impact on choosing our next president than what happens on the campaign trail, the race itself is important.

Greek voters rejected the latest bailout package, but that only seems likely to make things even worse for them.

He definitely wouldn’t appreciate it, but in some sense you can thank Robert Bork for the Supreme Court’s opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges.

SCOTUS has upheld the use of election commissions to draw Congressional district lines.

Debating the proper role of the judiciary.

Wherein I take the view that as our understanding of language changes, so too does our application of the Constiution.

The US Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution contains a right to same-sex marriage.

The era of legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act is over.

The Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to grant license plates that display the Confederate flag. Their decision has the potential to seriously harm the First Amendment.

Surely it’s time to put a woman on American currency again, but why go after Alexander Hamilton?

Turkey’s governing party suffered big setbacks at the ballot box yesterday.

The “Draft Warren” movement is basically dead.

The Supreme Court accepted a case that will require the Justices to decide just what it meant when it established the “one person, one vote” rule for drawing legislative districts.

President Obama is taking steps to reduce police militarization, but there’s much more that needs to be done.