Outside the Beltway

Ratings slipped for last night’s debate, but the numbers were still very respectable.

Last night’s debate in Wisconsin was arguably the most substantive we’ve seen so far between the Republican candidates, and one that displayed quite starkly the policy differences between them.

Give Jeb Bush a DeLorean or a TARDIS and he’ll be traveling back in time to Hitler in no time!

Candidates who have been excluded from tomorrow’s Fox Business Network are complaining, but their complaints ignore the fact that polling is the best objective criteria we have to determine debate eligibility.

Ben Carson and his supporters would have you believe that he is being subjected to unprecedented and unfair scrutiny. That assertion is completely false.

Forget about Congress, the real story going forward is likely to be Republican dominance of state legislatures nationwide.

Fluctuations continue, but the Republican Presidential field appears to be sorting itself out as we near the beginning of a new phase of the campaign.

Virginia Democrats tried to capture control of the Virginia State Senate by, in part, emphasizing gun control issues. The fact that they failed is instructive.

Republicans have apparently gone insane.

More good news for Hillary Clinton, and a sign that the race for the Democratic nomination, to the extent there really is a race at this point, is close to being over.

Donald Trump remains the favorite of those likely to vote in New Hampshire’s Republican Primary, but Marco Rubio is starting to inch up in the polls in the Granite State.

Marco Rubio has won the support of a top Republican donor and bundler, giving a much needed boost to his campaign.

In the wake of Wednesday’s debate, the Republican National Committee has suspended its partnership in a planned February debate with NBC News and Spanish language network Telemundo.

Marco Rubio’s performance in this week’s debate is once again leading to speculation about whether is about to have a breakout moment.

Several Republican candidates for President want to “fix” the debates, but they wouldn’t like the one thing that would definitely fix them.

While it did draw 14 million viewers, last night’s CNBC debate had the smallest audience of any Presidential debate so far. That was probably a good thing for CNBC considering how bad the debate was.

Rand Paul is promising to filibuster the budget deal when it gets to the Senate, but it’s extremely unlikely he’ll be able to do anything but delay the inevitable.

Marco Rubio is taking heat for missing a lot of Senate votes since he started running for President, but he’s not really any worse than other legislators who have run for President.

Republicans seem to be thinking that Hillary Clinton will be an easier General Election candidate than the evidence suggests she is likely to be.

Another batch of polls confirms that Donald Trump has fallen from the top in the Hawkeye State.

Several recent nominees were flailing at this point in those cycles.

Once the Republican frontrunner, Jeb Bush is now floundering and dealing with donors worried that they may be backing the wrong horse.

So close, and yet so very, very, far.

Two new Iowa polls show Ben Carson passing Donald Trump in the Hawkeye State, but that’s not necessarily good news for Republicans.

To the surprise of nobody who was actually paying attention to political reality, Vice-President Biden announced today that he will not be a candidate for President.

For much of the summer, the story of the Democratic race for President was the story of Hillary Clinton’s seemingly endless problems. Those days seem long gone if the latest polls are any indication.

Ben Carson will spend most of October on a book tour rather than campaigning for President. Further proof that he is not a serious candidate despite his standing in the polls.

In addition to doing everything she needed to do last night, Hillary Clinton also destroyed whatever logic remained for a Joe Biden candidacy.

With the first Democratic Presidential Debate just hours away, Hillary Clinton got some good polling news from Fox News Channel.

Rand Paul’s flailing Presidential campaign seems to be raising concerns about his Senate seat among some Republicans.

Quietly, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been moving close to the front f the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Rand Paul’s fundraising in the just completed quarter is disappointing enough that it’s clearly time for him to consider calling it a day.

Vice-President Biden will apparently not be at the first Democratic debate, which may be yet another sign that he’s not running for President.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus suggested that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t get used to their place at the top of the primary calendar. He’s right, but fixing the crazy system that put them there isn’t going to be easy.

The next Republican debate is likely to be a lot smaller than the previous two, and that could prove fatal for several candidates.

Two gone: 14 to go.

Once a candidate that many believed could become the Republican nominee, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is dropping out of the race for President.

The pressure on Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to expand the 2016 debate schedule is increasing.

Hillary Clinton seems to be bouncing back from recent troubles in the latest national poll, but Vice-President Biden is starting to rise in the polls before even getting in the race.

The first significant national polls taken in the wake of last week’s debate show that Donald Trump has slipped somewhat, but still remains the clear leader of the Republican race for President.

Time is running out for Joe Biden to make a decision about running for President, and it’s still not clear what he’ll do.

At a town hall last night in New Hampshire, it became clear just what kind of supporters Donald Trump’s demagoguery is attracting.

Even taking the fact that he is the Republican frontrunner into account, Donald Trump is getting a disproportionate amount of attention from the political media.

Ben Carson has no government experience, he has a history of saying things that don’t seem grounded in reality, and he lacks the resources for a credible campaign. And yet, he’s closing in on Donald Trump in the polls.

To listen to many of the Republican candidates for President, it would appear that the lights have been turned out on Ronald Reagan’s shining city on a hill.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson remain at the top of the Republican Presidential field heading into the second debate on Wednesday.

We won’t have Rick Perry to kick around anymore.