Outside the Beltway

Accusations of blame are already being tossed around about why Republicans lost in Virginia, and they mirror a broader debate in the Republican Party nationally.

Looking at Chris Christie as he interacts with voters in New Jersey offers a glimpse of just how he could succeed in a 2016 GOP nomination fight.

The news that Obama aides discussed a change to the 2012 ticket is part of the latest Halperin/Heilemann campaign history.

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

Chris Christie’s decision to take a tactical retreat on the issue of same-sex marriage raises some interesting questions for 2016.

Ted Cruz is holding the Senate floor “until I can no longer speak,” but he still won’t be able to stop the Senate from going forward.

The Matriculate Your Way Into Syria Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

It may be Rick Santorum’s “turn” but he’s too harsh and extreme to win the nomination.

Chris Christie waded into the debate going on in the GOP over foreign policy. His comments were less than helpful to say the least.

Just as the auto industry has, painfully, had to learn to adapt to a new world, the city will as well even if that means becoming a shadow of its former self.

The drip, drip, drip in Richmond is turning into a flood.

Could Rick Perry recover from his disastrous 2012 campaign to become a viable candidate?

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill today, but it’s not going to go anywhere.

A new theory circulating on the right asserts that IRS targeting of Tea Party groups had an impact on the 2012 elections by diminish the Tea Party’s effectiveness. It’s mostly nonsense.

Opponents of immigration reform are using “border security” as a shield to hide their true desire to kill the very idea of immigration reform.

Revelations about the NSA’s data mining programs don’t seem to be having a significant impact on public opinion.

I have for months taken it as a given that she went on five Sunday morning talk shows and lied about what happened there. Did she?

The The Audubon Autobahn Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Mitt Romney returns from the political graveyard.

The GOP’s latest investigatory crusade could end up backfiring on them.

We’re actually not speculating about who might be running any more than we used to.

Republicans are fighting over how best to deal with their demographic problems, but they seem to be fighting the wrong battle.

Would more information about the Benghazi attacks have changed the outcome of the Presidential election?

Republicans looking to Benghazi for political ammunition are likely going to be disappointed.

Yesterday’s hearings shed more light while also raising yet more questions to which we’ll likely never get a satisfactory answer.

Is someone who’s only be a Senator for just over 100 days a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2016?

Several Senators who voted against the Manchin/Toomey background checks bill have suffered in the polls, but it’s unclear if that matters in the long run.

2012’s election represented a significant change in voting patterns in the United States. What’s unclear is if the change is a permanent one.

The GOP’s most promising alternative to Mitt Romney in 2012 may run again in 2016, but it doesn’t seem like he’d go very far.

The artist known as Kid Rock endorsed Mitt Romney but now says he’s “embarrassed to be a Republican.” Because of their stance on paperless tickets, naturally.

Social conservatives are seeing their clout slip away, but there’s not much they can do about it.