Outside the Beltway

Except, of course, the parts he doesn’t like.

The Establishment opposition to the current frontrunner has little to do with his policy ideas.

Herman Cain will announce his future campaign plans this afternoon but, in some sense, it doesn’t matter what he decides to do.

The much celebrated ban on earmarks isn’t stopping Congressmen from trying to earmark.

It was a good day for Newt Gingrich, but will it matter in the end?

The former pizza executive is a smart guy. But he’s not fit to run the country.

My latest for The Atlantic: “Some Reasons Not to Worry About Republican Foreign Policy Craziness”

Last night, Herman Cain established that he simply isn’t prepared to be Commander in Chief.

Or, perhaps, the Perry Princple?

Another potential problem for the Cain campaign.

Do we place too much importance on performance in presidential debates?

Barack Obama wrote two bestselling memoirs before becoming president. Both of them are hot items at Foggy Bottom.

Quite improbably, Herman Cain remains at the top of the GOP field.

Rick Perry seems to be picking up where Sarah Palin left off.

And, the week closes out with another round of rumors about New Jersey’s Governor.

The grass is always greener on the candidate not running (or something like that).

Stephen Hill, a US soldier serving in Iraq, was booed by some members of the audience at last night’s Republican debate.

Rick Santorum: naked partisan. (Although, really, this is more a post about the EC than it is about Santorum).

Of the institutions designed by the Framers, the electoral college is the one that deserves the least amount of defense if one’s defense is predicated on assumptions of the genius of said framers.

It’s not a given that we’ll have a massive recovery during the next presidential term but it’s a pretty decent bet. And the party in power will get too much credit for it if it happens.

No matter how weak he becomes, no President will ever be completely irrelevant to the political process.

Let’s see if there is evidence to support the assertion.

Did Speaker Boehner insult President Obama by snubbing his speech request? If so, so what?

A political scientist whose formula has correctly picked every presidential winner since 1984 says Barack Obama will be re-elected.

The US came a lot closer to something resembling a parliamentary system than most people think.

Her appeal is not her ideas, policies, or achievements but her personality and appeal to the red meat base.

Rick Perry declared, “One of the reasons that I’m running for president is I want to make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the United States respects highly the president of the United States.”

Further evidence of Bachmann’s extreme views on homosexuality.

Does it matter which candidate the GOP nominates?

Steven Metz muses, “Scholars argue that too much political mobilization can make democracies dysfunction. Is that where the US is today?”