Outside the Beltway

President Obama had some prominent liberal journalists over for coffee.

National numbers can overstate regional preferences.

The President has yet to tell us what he would do with a Second Term.

Last night’s Vice-Presidential debate was combative, but is unlikely to have a major impact on the race for President.

Within minutes after today’s Jobs Report was released, the conspiracy theorists began to come forward.

Understanding public opinion is tricky.

So, Mitt Romney opened his mouth again.

Ben Bernanke thinks doing more of the same is just what the economy needs.

Another bad jobs report threatens to undermine whatever good will the President had coming off the Democratic National Convention.

A graph on public debt making the rounds is being used to misdirect rather than clarify.

There’s little evidence that Vice-Presidential picks have as big an impact on elections as pundits seem to think.

The recent call by many on the right for Mitt Romney to select Paul Ryan as his running mate is puzzling.

President Obama set off a firestorm by claiming business owners didn’t build “that.”

By failing to respond adequately, Mitt Romney is letting his opponent define him for the voters. That could hurt him greatly in November.

The debate over whether the PPACA’s individual mandate is a “penalty” or a “tax”seems rather pointless.

If the GOP wins in November, there will be very few actual barriers in the way if they really want to repeal the PPACA.

While it upheld the Affordable Care Act today, the Supreme Court also placed some clear limits on Congressional power. That’s a good thing.

David Chan has eaten at more than 6000 Chinese restaurants. He says the best are all in California and most opened in the last decade.

What lessons can we draw from the Wisconsin Recall?

Common Cause has filed a specious lawsuit alleging that the filibuster is unconstitutional.

The battle lines are being drawn for another showdown over the debt ceiling.

Last week, an absurd campaign became even more absurd.

Republican leaders seem resigned to a second Obama term. Here’s why it’s no slam dunk.

Jim Yong Kim is an impressive man. But he’s got no background in banking, finance, or economics.

The US spends more government money on healthcare per capita than the likes of Germany, France, Canada, Sweden, and Holland!

A new Gallup poll indicates that it is Big Government, not Big Business, that most concerns the American public.

How likely is it that a GOP Senate would eliminate the filibuster? Not very.

Some good news in the November jobs report, but not very much of it.

A progressive columnist has been outed as having sympathies for the Democratic Party.

Another meme debunked, plus some thoughts on policy.

With the advantage of hindsight, it’s clear that more creative strategies were needed. But they probably couldn’t have been passed.

Protestors have converged on DC, rallying against Afghanistan, Wall Street, and stuff.

The Occupy Wall Street protests look more like a temper tantrum than a substantive protest movement.

Chris Christie’s weight has become a political concern, apparently.

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.

Ezra Klein argues that there aren’t many jobs for which Hill experience is an asset.

Whether it’s a “Ponzi Scheme” or not, Social Security has serious systemic problems that must be addressed.

Not surprisingly, there was very little about the President’s jobs speech to write home about.

The Solyndra case is a classic example of what’s wrong with “government investment.”

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

The White House is still smarting over the fact that they got burned by John Boehner, again.

The world is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Although he didn’t get the words quite right yesterday, Mitt Romney was exactly right about corporations.

Now that America’s political leadership have probably averted a self-inflicted global economic calamity, it’s time to assess the winners and losers.