Outside the Beltway

51.5 percent of Americans disapprove of President Obama’s job performance. It’s still his race to lose.

Is the GOP race really down to just two men at this point?

WaPo humor columnist Gene Weingarten doesn’t think DC’s speed cameras are funny.

The failure of a solar energy firm in California is raising questions about a centerpiece of the Administration’s economic policy.

The Romney campaign may be finally starting to pay attention to Rick Perry.

Will 2012 be the Republican version of the 2008 race between President Obama and Hillary Clinton?

Florida’s new law requiring welfare recipients to pass drug tests seems to clearly violate the Fourth Amendment.

Schools of education attract the weakest students and give out the highest grades on campus.

Do we have a new frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination?

The first poll in the wake of Michele Bachmann’s victory at Ames and Rick Perry’s entry into the race shows a brand new frontrunner

A good day for Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, and Rick Perry. A bad day for everyone else.

Rick Perry’s entry into the race could quickly turn the 2012 GOP fight into a two man race.

The second round of the rolling Wisconsin recall elections was held yesterday. The Republicans are still in charge.

The job approval numbers for Congress are at historic lows, but will that matter in 2012?

Much like bills named for dead children, there’s a very high likelihood that any bill with “protecting children” and/or “pornographers” in the title is a) a very bad idea, b) a very stupid idea, c) of dubious Constitutionality, or, as here, d) all of the above.

The electoral map should be making the Obama 2012 camp just a little bit nervous.

He’s not in the race (yet), but Rick Perry is already a top-tier 2012 candidate.

Are the new crop of GOP governors too conservative?

Workers picketing a Chicago Hyatt hotel yesterday got an unpleasant surprise: Heat lamps.

For the moment, the GOP race looks like a race between Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, which should make Romney happy

A Federal Appeals Court struck down an Amendment to the Michigan Constitution today as unconstitutional.

The venerable Brooks Brothers is getting into the college apparel business, selling sweaters and polos for Boston College; the U.S. Naval Academy, Auburn, Cornell, Harvard, New York, Ohio State, Princeton, Stanford, and Vanderbilt Universities and the Universities of Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame and Virginia.

When one runs for president, it is assumed that one has a shot at one’s home state. Some of the GOP hopefuls, however, look more like unfavorite sons (and daughters).

An ex-CIA agent says that someone in the Bush White House tried to use the agency to “discredit” Iraq War critic Juan Cole.

Dennis Kucinich and nine other Members of Congress are suing the President. They won’t get very far.

Perhaps understandably, the Anthony Weiner incident seems to have caused some politicians to rethink their Twitter strategy.

Jack Kevorkian, the man who’s illegal assisted suicide rampage earned him the nickname “Dr. Death,” has died.

Jim Tressel has resigned as head coach of the Ohio State football team.

Republicans tired of the current slate of presidential candidates can rest easy: Thaddeus McCotter may offer up his services.

Mitt Romney began his effort to confront what is likely to be his biggest political liability in the 2012 campaign.

The challenges to the Affordable Care Act will remain in the Courts of Appeals for now, but they’re still on a pretty fast track.

Terry Jones may sue the City of Dearborn for its prior restraint actions against him. And he should.

By engaging in a blatantly unconstitutional prosecution of Pastor Terry Jones, Dearborn has actually boosted his nonsensical cause.

The story that GE paid zero taxes last year despite mega-billion dollar profits is completely untrue.

The only people responsible for the murders in Afghanistan are the people who committed them, but the demagogues like Terry Jones deserve condemnation as well.

Natural disasters in Japan have lessened the supply of pigments necessary to make black paint.