Outside the Beltway

Some recent political science on the subject.

Fourth time’s the charm? Probably not.

For a year that seemed to start out so well, 2013 has been among the President’s worst of this five years he’s been in office.

Last night, Speaker John Boehner showed that he can beat the Tea Party wing of the Caucus he heads. That has important consequences for the future.

Time to start talking about lame ducks?

Democracy was nice while it lasted.

The Supreme Court may have just given a boost to those who want to subject online sales to the same sales taxes as in-person sales.

The opponents of the temporary deal reached in Geneva have been making some ridiculous historical analogies.

Some Members of Congress are talking about pushing a bill imposing new sanction on Iran despite the deal reached in Geneva yesterday.

Republican hardliners are pushing a position on immigration that is completely out of sync with the nation as a whole.

Yesterday’s change to the filibuster rule is likely to have little impact outside the beltway and the political chattering class.

It wasn’t a Thermonuclear move, more like something the size of Hiroshima, but today the Senate took an historic move nonetheless.

Are we headed for another Federal Government shutdown, or will Congress actually do its job this time?

The trends in President Obama’s approval numbers are not moving in the direction he ought to want them to go.

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

The Imperial Presidency didn’t start with Barack Obama, but his PPACA “fix” does much to expand it into questionable new territory.

A contrite President Obama offered a “fix” for one of the biggest problems that the PPACA has created.

A top House Republican suggested today that only Governor’s should be President. His argument has both practical and historical merit.

With just over two weeks today, rumors are starting to float out that the efforts to fix the Federal Exchange website may not be done in time.

The state where the same-sex marriage battle began is just days away from legalizing same-sex marriage.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed the Senate yesterday but it’s unlikely to go much further.

The battle for marriage equality has scored a number of victories in a short period of time, but that’s about to change.

Legislation to ban discrimination in employment against gays and lesbians is set to make major gains in the Senate.

Polls in Virginia don’t open for another 48 hours or so, but the end result has become fairly apparent when you look at the polls.

Under 21 in New York City? No more smokes for you!

Could Congress actually pass some form of immigration reform before the midterms? Don’t bet on it just yet.

It’s no wonder there’s no compromise in Congress.

“If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.” Well, not really.

The prospect of Congressional action on immigration before the midterms just got a whole lot less likely.

The bad roll out of the Affordable Care Act is starting to lead to calls for delays in enforcement of the law.

Immigration reform may be the next big battle on Capitol Hill, but it’s going to be far different from the one that just concluded.

Absent an unlikely major change, it looks like the Democrats will win the Governor’s race in Virginia

A plan finally starting to come together?

It looks like the House will be making its move before the Senate acts, but that may actually help resolve this faster.

The deal emerging out of the talks between Senator Reid and Senator McConnell is about what you’d expect, but it’s probably the best we can expect right now.

Are these four men our last, best hope for a deal that will end the shutdown and avoid breaching the debt ceiling?

The argument that the Roberts Court has been overly “activist” does not hold up to examination.

A little noticed rule change in the House is arguably one of the main reasons we’re in a government shutdown crisis.

Here’s our debate over shutting down the government over Obamacare in a nutshell.