Outside the Beltway

Rand Paul is taking some heat for remarks that may or may not indicate that he’s backtracking on his previous vow not to seek earmark spending for Kentucky. Yes folks, the phony war on earmarks is back.

The odds that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed anytime in the near future are fairly close to zero thanks to the results of last Tuesday’s elections.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb is the last of a dying breed of Democrats, but his party may need him if it wants to remain competitive anywhere outside of a Blue State.

They’ve won the elections, but Republicans still aren’t getting specific about exactly where they’d cut Federal spending.

The race between Jeb Hensarling and Michelle Bachmann for Chair of the House GOP Conference is a microcosm for a battle that is likely to take place within the GOP for the next two years.

Peggy Noonan argues that Tuesday’s elections shows that Americans want to be led by accomplished grown-ups and will reject people who seem empty or crazy.

He’s the darkest of dark horses right now, but Gary Johnson stands as the heir apparent to Ron Paul’s surprisingly energetic 2008 run for the GOP nomination.

Politico runs this morning with the shocking revelation that Keith Olbermann is a Democrat.

Will the incoming “Tea Party” caucus in the House and Senate force the GOP to reconsider its views on foreign policy? Don’t count on it.

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

A longish NYT postmortem titled “Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan” attributes Tuesday’s Republican victories to a January 2009 PowerPoint presentation. But structural factors were more important.

An NBC analysis shows Tea Party candidates winning only 5 of 10 Senate races and 40 of 130 House races, a success rate of only 32 percent.

Congressional Republicans and President Obama both held press conferences today that included talk of bipartisanship and working together. Don’t believe it.

Last night’s election results stand as a mixed verdict on the Tea party and its impact on the Republican Party.

The enthusiasm for Tea Party candidates likely helped the House Republican wave. But it also likely cost the GOP four Senate seats that it would otherwise have won — and thus the majority.

Senator DeMint provides the basic answers to my Tea Party/GOP questions from earlier today.

A question about the next Congress.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson takes a look at the Tea Party movement and claims to find racism.

She didn’t gain national prominence until late August, and she’s going to most likely lost by a wide margin tonight, but Christine O’Donnell received more coverage from the media than any other candidate running in 2010.

Who are the Tea Party candidates and who will be the Tea Party office holders?

The British press takes a look at America’s Midterm Elections.

Ok, so we’ve been talking about the Tea Party for months. What will that label means once we actually have elections and move on to the governing bit?

If you’re looking for a reason why the GOP is likely to do very well tomorrow, voter response to the “right track/wrong track” question is a very good guide.

Pundits and partisans constantly overreact to the momentary mood expressed in a single election. The Republicans have already rebounded from 2008. The Democrats will recover from 2010.

Unnamed Republican leaders are lined up to ensure that anybody but the former VP nominee is the party’s 2012 standard bearer.

National Republicans are reportedly abandoning Joe Miller’s Senate campaign at the last minute out of fear that only Lisa Murkowski can stop Alaska’s Senate seat from falling into Democratic hands. That could have a serious impact down the road for relations between inside-the-beltway Republicans and the Tea Party.

215,000 people attended the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” compared to 87,000 for “Restoring Honor.” Even if you believe the numbers, they don’t tell us much.

Newt Gingrich for President ? You might want to think twice about that, Republicans.

Another poll confirms that Sarah Palin continues to be viewed negatively by the majority of American voters, but that doesn’t seem to matter to supporters who seem have a degree of adulation usually reserved for celebrities than serious politicians.

We’ve been talking about the 2010 elections since, oh, the day after the 2008 elections.   Now, it’s time for final predictions.

Former President Clinton tried to convince Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race, because Democrats know that Charlie Crist had chance to win and Meek did not.

Jack Conway’s “Aqua Buddha” ad has come back to haunt him in the polls, and may become the act that seals his fate on Election Day.

The GOP looks likely to win substantial victories next Tuesday, and may even take control of both Houses of Congress, but they’ve already made their own failure inevitable.