Outside the Beltway

A new poll has some bad news for Jeb Bush in the Hawkeye State, which leads to the idea that maybe he shouldn’t waste too much time there to begin with.

In a move that is clearly designed to have an impact in the General Election, Hillary Clinton came out in support of broad immigration reform in Nevada yesterday.

Mike Huckabee’s back, but the 2008 magic is gone.

Ben Carson is running for President.

Even for political junkies, the thrill seems to be gone.

Marco Rubio is often described as one of the GOP’s leaders on foreign policy, but a close look reveals a decided lack of substance.

Hillary Clinton’s political and personal baggage is likely to be a bigger problem for her than whomever her Republican opponent ends up being.

Less than two weeks after entering the race, Florida Senator Marco Rubio is at the top of the GOP field in a new poll.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO, and failed Senate candidate, Carly Fiorina will be running for President for some reason.

New allegations regarding foreign government donations to the Clinton Foundation seem likely to become a campaign issue.

The GOP race remains tight, but some candidates have benefited from their entry into the race more than others. Overall, though, Hillary Clinton continues to dominate.

Five years after it became law, the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act appears to be over.

Pundits and political scientists agree that, if the 2016 presidential election were today, we’d have a much better idea who would win.

Another step forward for U.S.-Cuban relations.

Conditioning an Iranian nuclear deal on recognition of Israel is foolish, unrealistic, and very bad diplomacy.

Ben Carson will be entering the race for President next month, but don’t pretend for a minute that he’s a serious candidate.

Marco Rubio is the first Republican in the race who actually has a plausible chance to win the nomination, but it’s not going to be easy.

His poll numbers are down, the GOP base is not hospitable, but Chris Christie still seems to be thinking about running for President.

To the surprise of few, Hillary Clinton is running for President

Rand Paul is the latest Republican to enter the race, but his path to even becoming a contender is a difficult one at best.

The political media is breathlessly reporting on every event in a campaign that is just beginning, and voters aren’t really paying attention to it at this point.

The Iranian nuclear accords are barely 24 hours old and some people have already made up their mind about them.

Jeb Bush is leading the latest poll of the 2016 Republican race and Ted Cruz has surged since he entered the race, but the race is just beginning.

New polling on President Obama’s opening to Cuba is likely to surprise some, and disappoint others.

We’re down to debating whether bigots should have to sell cakes to gay people.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is getting ready to jump into the race for President, but he has an uphill fight ahead of him.

Two weeks after the email story broke, there’s no sign that Hillary Clinton is losing ground in the 2016 race.

A brutal assessment of Chris Christie’s presidential chances.

Despite the ongoing email controversy, Hillary Clinton remains well positioned heading into 2016.

Just as his political star is rising among conservatives, Scott Walker is walking back his previous support for immigration reform.

Rand Paul is carrying on a family tradition, winning the CPAC straw poll won many times by his father Ron.

Scott Walker surged to the top of a new poll of Iowa Republicans, but Iowa is not a very good predictor of success in the race for the GOP nomination.

Mitt Romney is set to make an announcement at 11 Eastern today. [UPDATE: He’s out!]

For some reason, Republicans want to change filibuster rules even though it’s unclear that they’ll still hold the Senate after 2016.

The Tea Party may be the most vocal wing of the GOP but most Republicans seems to favor candidates that aren’t quite so right wing.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

The fate of Cuba policy in Congress is far from certain, but what is certain is that following through on President Obama’s historic and necessary changes will face resistance.

An American freed from captivity, and potentially huge changes in America’s diplomatic and trade relationship with Cuba.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

Judging by recent polling, the President’s executive action has hardened GOP opposition to immigration reform, making progress on the issue going forward much less likely.

Even leaving aside the fact that it is far too early to be making such assessments, the idea that Rand Paul is the front runner for the Republican nomination in 2016 fails the logic test.

The fact that Republicans lack anything approaching a coherent immigration plan makes it hard to take their criticism of the President seriously.

Top Republicans worry that their party’s response to the President’s executive action will alienate Latinos. However, there’s little they can do about that.

If the President now believes he can act unilaterally on immigration reform, why did he spend the last five years saying that he couldn’t?

Mike Huckabee seems to be making the moves necessary to run for President again, For reasons only he can understand.