The New Republic

READ MORE >>

Jon Chait asks the key question in response to the internal administration memo I uncovered while researching my book--the one in which Christy Romer wrote that it w READ MORE >>

Are Senate Democrats really foolish enough not to line up behind President Obama's jobs bill?  Quite possibly. On Tuesday night, Majority Leader Harry Reid will try to bring the newly revised package to a vote. He won't succeed, because the chamber's 47 Republicans will vote unanimously to filibuster it. And it takes only 40 to succeed. READ MORE >>

 Why is Ben Nelson a Democrat?  READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

Why is Obama giving Republicans an extension of upper income tax cuts when polls show Americans overwhelmingly oppose them? Maybe because those polls don't translate into leverage on Capitol Hill. Political scientist and blogger Brendan Nyhan makes the case: READ MORE >>

Congress is in session this week and it's not likely that any energy legislation will come up, much less pass. But there's still important maneuvering afoot: Namely, a number of Republicans and conservative Democrats may try to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse-gas emissions on its own: READ MORE >>

Via Bouie, Elizabeth Drew says: It's time to retire the overused — and inaccurate — words "dysfunctional" and "paralysis" that have appeared in a recent spate of articles and commentary propagating the fashionable view that the current Congress has gotten little or even nothing done. In fact, this has been one of the most productive Congresses in decades.  READ MORE >>

Late last month, Gallup released fresh state-by-state numbers on the electorate’s ideological and partisan identification. These numbers provide both an X-ray of the structure of political competition and a roadmap for November. READ MORE >>

Jonathan Bernstein is a political scientist. He blogs at A plain blog about politics. And so, we have a new Supreme Court Justice, as expected. Final count: 63-37. Five Republicans and one Democrat defected. READ MORE >>