The New Republic

No one is more preoccupied these days with Hillary Clinton's 2016 plans than the Beltway political class—not even the former presidential candidate herself. To hear some tell it, her decision will be dispositive for all other Democrats thinking of entering the race. READ MORE >>

Dr. Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon and overnight GOP star, wasn't known to most people at Johns Hopkins University, where he has worked for more than two decades, as an outspoken social conservative. READ MORE >>

Mark Sanford is one step closer to a remarkable political comeback after locking up the Republican nomination for Congress in South Carolina’s First Congressional District on Tuesday. A general election match-up in conservative South Carolina might seem like an easy final leg for Sanford, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll waltz to victory. Next month, Sanford will face off against Elizabeth Colbert Busch—Stephen’s sister—in a deeply conservative district where Democrats don’t usually have a chance. This time, they do. READ MORE >>

As the Republican rout in the 2010 midterms loomed, official Washington had already assigned much of the blame to President Barack Obama’s half-hearted support for imperiled congressional Democrats. Two months before the election, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote in Politico: READ MORE >>

Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the two big gay marriage cases it heard last week, it’s only a matter of time before the institution is legalized. Public acceptance is accelerating and will soon be overwhelming. READ MORE >>

Marco Rubio's role as the Republican point man on immigration reform is remarkable if you think of the senator who played the part before him. John McCain had been in the Senate for nearly twenty years when he took up the issue in President Bush's second term; Rubio has been in Washington only a little more than two. Of course, Rubio has something McCain lacked: credibility with the GOP’s right-wing base. And so Rubio is seen as the key to forming the bipartisan coalition that has eluded those who have worked on this issue. READ MORE >>

The Obama administration may remove the CIA from armed drone operations, according to recent reports—a signal that it now believes the CIA should not be involved in what its new director, John Brennan, called "paramilitary" operations. If the administration does restrict the CIA, it will also be the first major limitation on the drone program—a program Obama has greatly expanded since taking office. READ MORE >>

Earlier this month, two lesbian couples in New Mexico headed to the Bernalillo County clerk’s office in downtown Albuquerque and applied for a marriage license. As expected, they were denied. And, as planned, the ACLU immediately filed a lawsuit on their behalf, setting the future of gay marriage in New Mexico on a path to the state Supreme Court. READ MORE >>

Our times can lend ordinary words new shadings. It used to be that one thought of a fossil embedded in rock, but especially since the Iraq War, embed calls most immediately to mind a reporter covering military activity. In the same way, evolution these days is no longer about Darwin and finch beaks. Rather, the public figure opting to espouse a previously controversial position now tells us that their views have "evolved." It is, in truth, a weaselly business. READ MORE >>

It’s not unusual for candidates and interest groups to spend millions of dollars to try to change public opinion. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent $12 million advertising buy is a little less conventional: He’s spending millions to convince voters not to change their minds. READ MORE >>