Outside the Beltway

John Kerry’s Washington Post op-ed supports U. S. leadership in establishing a no-fly zone in Libya.

All of the plausible Republican contenders for 2012 have significant downsides.

Mitt Romney starts his 2012 run as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. But, in reinventing himself yet again, the “authenticity” issue that troubled many of us in 2008 looms again.

Democrats won’t say if they consider Mitt Romney a threat, but they’re sure acting like they do.

The fight over Federal funding for Planned Parenthood seems to be about much more than whether taxpayer dollars should be going to Planned Parenthood.

Opposition to marriage equality is no longer the wedge issue it used to be.

A new set of polls from Gallup show that President Obama is still looking good for re-election.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown was a Tea Party darling when he picked up Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat last year, but he’s not embracing the movement as he prepares to run for re-election next year.

Facebook has come up with new settings to meet the needs of users in same-sex relationships.

Thanks to the help of a group of Tea Party Freshman in the House. Congress has finally cut off funding for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the Pentagon never wanted.

Newt Gingrich is very popular among young conservatives. But two ugly divorces will keep him from being a contender for the presidency.

Ron Paul has won the CPAC straw poll for a second straight year. But YAF has voted him off its board over his opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The events in Egypt have led some to ask if the mere act of cutting off access to the Internet is, in itself, an human rights violation.

The home mortgage interest deduction benefits Democrat-voting states most! Is the fix in?

It’s straw poll season already. First up, New Hampshire where things turned out about how you’d expect them to considering Mitt Romney lives there now.

Mitt Romney has hired my wife’s boss as his pollster.

One columnist argues that Sarah Palin’s response to the Arizona shootings mark the end of whatever political future she might have had. He’s probably correct.

208 years ago today, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to The Danbury Baptist Association that has resonated through the years.

A somewhat surprising court decision from the European Union gives a glimpse of what the situation in the United States would be if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Does NATO membership serve a strategic purpose?

Red States should gain 10 seats while Blue States should lose eight.

How likely are more sweeping health care reforms in the US? Not very likely at all.

The internal debate in the Republican Party over the tax cut extension deal with President Obama is serving as a preview of some of the battles that may erupt during the race for the party’s nomination in 2012.

Despite yesterday’s victory for opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the prospects in the Supreme Court are not good.

How would appointed Senators affect the partisan mix of the Senate?

The immediate reactions from left and right to the proposals from the Chairmen of the Debt Commission are about what you’d expect.

This is a strange disconnect between Sarah Palin’s popularity within the Republican Party and her popularity with the nation as a whole. One wonders if the GOP notices, or cares.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held a private, off-the-record meeting in comedian Jon Stewart’s office back in April. Speculation abounds.

Despite votes in the 2010 contest still being counted, polls for 2012 are already pouring out. They’re largely meaningless.

Republicans either lost or barely won a whole lot of races because their vote was split with minor party candidates.

Democrats won the governorship, all 10 House seats, and all statewide races in Massachusetts.

If you’re looking for a reason why the GOP is likely to do very well tomorrow, voter response to the “right track/wrong track” question is a very good guide.

Theodore Sorensen, a speechwriter and close adviser to President John F. Kennedy, died today at the age of 82

Newt Gingrich for President ? You might want to think twice about that, Republicans.

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

A call for ideological purity in the Democratic Party in today’s New York Times demonstrates that Democrats can be just as foolish as Republicans.

The coalition of voters that propelled Barack Obama to an historic victory in 2008 is seemingly falling apart, and the President is reacting by blaming the voters.