Outside the Beltway

Once again, the debate commission controlled by the two major parties is excluding third-party candidates from the Presidential debates.

The election is now fifty-six days away and, while the race is tighter than it has been, it’s still one in which Hillary Clinton has seemingly all the advantages.

The “independent conservative” running for President is finding it hard to even get on the ballot.

After grabbing a lead at the end of last year, Ted Cruz has seen Donald Trump completely reverse fortunes in Iowa with just one week to go before voting starts.

Seemingly disproving yet another round of predictions of his imminent demise, Donald Trump continues to dominate the race for the Republican nomination.

One of the nation’s preeminent polling firms is sitting out the 2016 primaries.

His remarks about John McCain’s military service don’t seem to be hurting Donald Trump with Republican true believers.

Taxes on wine, beer, and spirits vary wildly from state-to-state and even within each state.

One more on this topic.

Daniel Larison is far less ambivalent about our war on ISIL than me.

While the issue of income inequality is quite real, Oxfam’s numbers are not.

The results of the 2014 midterms should teach us some lessons about how to handle and evaluate polling.

Things are looking good for the GOP to take over the Senate, but there are still several right races that could tip the balance one way or the other.

Is former Senator Larry Pressler surging in his Independent bid to win back his old Senate seat?

Alabamians like to exclaim, “Thank God for Mississippi.” Perhaps it’s time for that slogan to cross the Pond.

Once something that generally benefited Republicans, social issues are now becoming a wedge issue for Democrats.

Crisis seems to be brewing all over the world, but the American people aren’t persuaded that it’s necessary for the United States to act.

The Democrats have a big advantage in the Electoral College, at least for now.

Despite the mythos, 95% of Americans are either Christian or unaffiliated.

Most peer-reviewed research is crap.

The government shutdown seems to be having an impact on the one competitive statewide race in country this year.

People who drink more coffee are less likely to kill themselves.

The AHA is calling for a six-year embargo of history dissertations.

Thanks to those new electronic cigarettes, ads for cigarettes are back on television for the first time since the Nixon Administration.

The government is changing the way it calculates Gross Domestic Product.

We rely on death certificates for epidemiology studies. But they’re incredibly unreliable.

Is the answer to the same-sex marriage debate as simple as getting the government out of the marriage business, or is it more complicated?

Could a coin like this solve the looming debt ceiling crisis?

Seems that the answer continues to be “no.”

Not as much learning going on as one might like, to be honest.

Barone tells some tales to make himself feel better.

Dean Chambers of UnSkewed fame, puts the polling debate into sharp perspective.

As in 2010, Scott Rasmussen’s polling in 2012 has shown a distinct bias in favor of Republicans.

Once again, it seems necessary to debunk some commonly believed myths about polling.

While the conspiracy theory is nuts, there are legitimate reasons to be skeptical of some elements of September’s Jobs Report.

There is nothing wrong with healthy skepticism (which is different than outright denialism).

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

The response rates for opinion polling of all types has become incredibly low.

Getting to the heart of the problem from my POV (plus historical numbers).

Yet another case of breathless media reporting on academic research findings.