Outside the Beltway

Mitch McConnell made clear today that he’s targeting Barack Obama for defeat in two years.

An NBC analysis shows Tea Party candidates winning only 5 of 10 Senate races and 40 of 130 House races, a success rate of only 32 percent.

Congressional Republicans and President Obama both held press conferences today that included talk of bipartisanship and working together. Don’t believe it.

Last night’s election results stand as a mixed verdict on the Tea party and its impact on the Republican Party.

The enthusiasm for Tea Party candidates likely helped the House Republican wave. But it also likely cost the GOP four Senate seats that it would otherwise have won — and thus the majority.

We’ve been talking about the 2010 elections since, oh, the day after the 2008 elections.   Now, it’s time for final predictions.

Jack Conway’s “Aqua Buddha” ad has come back to haunt him in the polls, and may become the act that seals his fate on Election Day.

The Tea Party movement doesn’t seem to have a coherent view on foreign policy. Which means that a Tea Party victory will just mean more of the same Republican neo-conservatism.

Sarah Palin is causing headaches among fellow Republicans regarding her 2010 endorsement activities.

Voters head to the polls in thirteen days, and current indications are that they’ll be handing a big victory to the Republican Party.

It’s looking less and less likely that the GOP will gain control of the Senate, but they’re going to come awfully close,, and that might be just as good from their point of view.

If you’re looking for negative campaigning, personal insults, and all the other things that make American politics fun, look no further than Kentucky.

Polls show the Republicans easily retaking the House but falling short in the Senate. But 2006 showed us that wave elections can produce shocking outcomes.

Republicans are suddenly targeting — and Democrats in some cases are conceding — House seats that were until recently considered out of play.

Boston University and Northeastern have found that there is life after football. Shouldn’t most schools follow their lead?

Thomas Friedman engages in some early speculation about a serious third party presidential run. As usual, such speculation ignores the basic structures of American politics.

Robert Lane Greene investigates the rise of acronyms, initialisms, and other informal shortenings of speech.

A newly released poll on the Kentucky Senate race may not be an accurate measure of what’s actually going on in that race.

Jack Conway is now only 2 points behind Tea Party favorite Rand Paul.

Christine O’Donnell’s victory in Delaware Tuesday has made it less likely that the GOP will be able to take control of the Senate, but they still have an excellent shot of making substantial gains that will transform Congress’s Upper House.

Sarah Palin had a very good track record in her primary season endorsements, but it’s not at all clear that she will have much of an impact on the 2010 General Election.

At least one Christine O’Donnell supporter thinks that Republicans who aren’t jumping on are bandwagon are doing so because of her gender.

The Delaware GOP primary continues to get more intertesting.

Christine O’Donnell has become the latest star of the Tea Party movement, and her primary battle with Mike Castle the latest battleground over the future of the Republican Party.

It would appear that the Pauls have different views on Park51.

Rand Paul is apparently taking heat from some of his more socially conservative supporters after FEC reports indicate he received a donation from the owner of an Adult web site. People need to get a life.

Rand Paul’s initial mis-steps after winning the Republican primary seem to be largely behind him.

The results of last night’s Colorado Senate primaries should be causing Democrats to worry.

Protests against mosques aren’t just limited to Manhattan. And that’s a problem.

The Republican Party is keeping relatively quiet on the Proposition 8 ruling. That’s a good idea.

Mitch McConnell and Al Franken provide a lesson in Senate comity.

The Obama Administration is dismissing the results of a referendum in Missouri that purports to strike down health insurance mandates.

Senate Republicans want to rethink the 14th Amendment’s automatic citizenship for people born in the U.S.

As the campaign in Kentucky heats up for the final sprint to November, Rand Paul seems to have succeeded in moving beyond many of the mis-steps that plagued him three months ago.

A growing number of conservatives are in dismay about the state of their movement.

Some Republicans in Congress are worried they won’t be able to control the future Congressmen and Senators that the Tea Party might be sending to Washington.