Outside the Beltway

Several Tea Party backed Members of Congress claim to be challenging John Boehner in tomorrow’s vote for Speaker. They are, of course, delusional.

As expected, the Senate passed the so-called “Cromnibus,” but not before a self-aggrandizing maneuver by Ted Cruz ended up being exploited by Democrats to pass outstanding nominations.

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

Judging by recent polling, the President’s executive action has hardened GOP opposition to immigration reform, making progress on the issue going forward much less likely.

It looks like Congress has averted a budget fight for the second straight year.

The GOP donor class would like the 2016 race to be short and sweet, but that’s unlikely to happen.

Michele Bachmann leaves office at the end of the current Congress, but we may not have heard the last from her.

The House approved a bill to protest the President’s executive action on immigration that will go nowhere. The question is whether it will placate the right.

Ben Carson is not a serious candidate for President, but he’s likely to get a lot of support from the GOP’s Tea Party wing.

It’s an old story. Republican leadership wants to avoid a government shutdown, but the hard core conservatives want a fight, this time over the President’s immigration action. We have a week to see how it unfolds.

Some on the right are suggesting that Congress retaliate against the President’s executive action on immigration by refusing to invite him to give the State Of The Union Address.

Today is a day for turkey and football, not a day for politics.

Sen. Charles Schumer says Democrats made a mistake by concentrating on getting health care reform passed instead of on fixing the economy.

If the President now believes he can act unilaterally on immigration reform, why did he spend the last five years saying that he couldn’t?

Republicans don’t really have many options if the President pulls the trigger on immigration reform via executive action.

The GOP’s big wins last week seem to be just guaranteeing that this year’s battle between the Tea Party and the “establishment” will continue.

Despite the conciliatory language after Tuesday, it’s unlikely that much will change in Washington in the next two years.

The party’s loss of Senate control has basically sealed Landrieu’s fate.

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

Political scientists tend to be less dramatic than commentators.

What happened Tuesday? And what does it tell us about 2016?

The GOP added to its majority in the House, giving it the biggest majority it has had since Truman was President.

2014 was not supposed to be a wave election, but it clearly qualifies as one.

Always as many military personnel identify as Independents as with the GOP.

Rebranding alone isn’t going to fix what’s causing the GOP to lose ground among a whole host of demographic groups.

The odds say that the GOP will end up with a Senate majority in the 114th Congress when all the votes are counted, but if it doesn’t happen then there’s likely to be quite a battle inside the GOP.

It’s been three months, but there’s been no action on the lawsuit that the House of Representatives said it was filing against President Obama.

The most bizarre race of 2014 is finally over.

A Federal Judge has dismissed lawsuits filed by Tea Party groups over the IRS targeting scandal.

Despite conventional wisdom, there remains little incentive for the GOP to change its position on immigration reform.

For the ninth time since 1974, the next Governor of Maine will likely be elected with less than 50% of the vote.

Remember the border crisis? Yea, it’s not much of a crisis these days.

The death of the Tea Party is greatly exaggerated.

It has nothing to do with winning, but it does have a lot to do with the foreign policy debate inside the Republican Party.

Bush 2016?

The next Attorney General will likely see their nomination taken up by Senators who will not be in office past December. That’s somewhat disturbing, but it’s become all too common in Washington.

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.

A majority of Americans don’t care very much who controls Congress.

The Affordable Care Act is playing almost no role in the midterm elections.

Congress seems ready to avoid having to vote on expanded attacks against the Islamic State

For purely political reasons, the Administration is delaying the announcement of new executive action on immigration.

A political earthquake in the Sunflower State that could have a big impact on the battle for control of the Senate.

Chris McDaniel’s meritless, quixotic challenge to the Mississippi GOP Senate Primary is reaching it’s expected conclusion.