Outside the Beltway

Rand Paul held the Senate floor for nearly twelve hours yesterday to talk about the PATRIOT Act, but it’s unclear if he accomplished anything.

A New Jersey legislator is proposing finally getting rid of an antiquated law that makes it illegal to pump your own gas in the Garden State.

Director of National Intelligence now tells Congress that he testified falsely about NSA spying because he forgot the program existed.

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the N.S.A.’s data mining program is illegal, but its ruling may not have a very big impact.

Oregon has become the first state in the nation to adopt universal automatic voter registration.

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) will become the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) resigns Wednesday

He’s tan. He’s rested. And, apparently, he’s ready. Mitt Romney seems very interested in 2016 all of a sudden.

Some preliminary thoughts on the inaugural college playoff system.

The Justice Department won’t force James Risen to testify in a legal investigation, but faces a new choice in a different case.

Despite opposition from both Republicans and Democrats, the compromise budget resolution passed narrowly last night, but not without some last minute drama

The budget bill Congress set to pass Congress would effectively reverse the will of the voters of Washington, D.C., who just voted to legalize marijuana.

You’ve got your playoff College Football fans, as imperfect as it was inevitably going to be.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

Voter Turnout was lower this year than in any midterm since the one held eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Support for legalizing marijuana continues to grow slowly but surely.

Tuesday’s Republican wave didn’t change the fundamentals.

Big victories for advocates of marijuana legalization.

Freedom of choice.

Two states and the nation’s capital could have legal marijuana after Tuesday’s elections.

The B.C.S. was far from perfect, and the College Football Playoff system will be, at best, only slightly better.

All of the major sports leagues are trying to stop New Jersey’s efforts to legalize sports gambling. They should not be allowed to succeed.

Polls continue to show that most Americans are largely tuning the midterms out.

Early voting is a still new idea in the United States, but one that has quickly spread to a majority of states. But, is it a good idea?

A 29 year old woman will end her life in less than a month. That should be her choice.

Opponents of marriage equality clearly don’t like the idea of a “big tent” in the GOP on the issue.

While it still seems unlikely that he’ll run, Mitt Romney does seem to be leaving the door open to a third run at the White House.

Freedom Of The Press, if you can afford to pay the fee.

Republicans still have an advantage, but Democrats seem to be holding their own in the battle for Senate control.

So far at least, there is no evidence that 2014 will be a “wave election.”

The GOP has a good chance of taking the Senate in 2014, but it will be by a narrow margin.

According to some reports, President Obama may be about to make an end run around Congressional inaction on immigration reform.

Another Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on the marriage equality debate.

The Grey Lady sees the light on a major part of the War On Drugs.

A Silicon Valley businessman says he has enough signatures to get it on the ballot, but the plan to break California up into six states is most assuredly going nowhere.

It seems improbable, but the national landscape on same-sex marriage is changing so quickly that even the Republican Party may find itself changing faster than some might think.

The right to fly can’t be denied on mere whim.

Signs continue to suggest that a GOP Senate takeover is likely.

Another legal victory for marriage equality.

Sooner or later, the Supreme Court will have to rule on a challenge to state laws banning same-sex marriage.

Yet another Federal Judge has struck down a state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

A 13 month string of legal victories for marriage equality reaches Oregon.

Some polls aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.