Outside the Beltway

Some thoughts and questions as we finally hit the start of the process. (And the return of the Toast-o-Meter)

If Donald Trump is going to win in early states like Iowa or New Hampshire, he needs a ground game that will get voters to the polls. It doesn’t seem like he has much of one right now.

A new poll shows that Democratic voters are less engaged in the 2016 campaign right now than Republicans are, but that probably doesn’t mean that much for next year.

Massive boycotts and protests likely spell the end of Tim Wolfe’s tenure as president.

Thanks mostly to well-founded demographic concerns, China is ending the ‘One Child’ policy, but it is probably too late for them to avoid the consequences of the forty year program.

The longer this race goes on, the hard it becomes to deny the truth about Donald Trump.

As much as I wish it were otherwise, Iowa and New Hampshire are not losing their influence over the Presidential primary process.

A long history of opposing marriage equality could end up hurting Republicans even though that battle is over in this country.

The latest Census data show a changing America.

Taylor Swift is taking a stand against Apple’s new streaming music service, and she’s largely right.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are talking about fundamentally changing what it means to be an American, and it’s a bad idea.

As oral argument in the Supreme Court gets closer, a new poll finds public support for same-sex marriage at it’s highest level yet.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

Trying to explain one of the biggest surprises of Election Night 2014.

The GOP added to its majority in the House, giving it the biggest majority it has had since Truman was President.

Bill Scher examines “How Republicans Lost the Culture War.”

After success in Scotland, it may be time to consider allowing at least some teenagers to vote.

Chris McDaniel’s meritless, quixotic challenge to the Mississippi GOP Senate Primary is reaching it’s expected conclusion.

It’s hard for a party to win four straight presidential elections. The Democrats may pull it off.

The war in Gaza seems to be winding down, but the underlying issues remain.

The South and Southwest have a much higher military enlistment rate than the Northeast.

Crisis seems to be brewing all over the world, but the American people aren’t persuaded that it’s necessary for the United States to act.

It appears that the GOP still has a problem communicating with women.

Parties do not own voters, and the job of campaigns is to attract voters.

The news gets worse.

New York has joined nine other states and the District of Columbia to vote to for an Electoral College bypass.

A pattern continues.

A surprisingly disappointing jobs report for December.

Once again, a poll shows that large numbers of Americans, and most Americans, reject Evolution via Natural Selection as the explanation for humanity’s origin. How do we explain that?

There’s a potentially fatal legal argument looming out there for the PPACA.

The most important leader to come out of Africa in the 20th Century, and perhaps in all of history, has died.

Do Voter ID laws really suppress voter turnout? The evidence from at least one state doesn’t prove it.

The situation we currently find oursevles in is very much driven by structural issues.

Michelle Nunn is running for her dad’s old Senate seat.

The under-35 set are buying cars at a lower rate than they used to.

Republicans are fighting over how best to deal with their demographic problems, but they seem to be fighting the wrong battle.

Many conservatives are living inside of a media bubble and they’ll continue to have problems until the consciously decide to break out of it.

Republicans used to dominate California. Now, they’re barely a factor in the state’s politics.

The Republican Party needs more than outreach to Hispanics to become a viable national party again.

Obama thinks he has a mandate to raise taxes on high earners. Republicans think they have a mandate to stop him.