All Politics Voices

The president’s largely ineffective responses to the threats of Ebola and the Islamic State have battered his approval ratings and made it harder for Democrats to swim away from his sinking ship.

The Sunday morning genre has been rather staid for decades now and bringing in Stewart could have been a game changer. But it may not have been good journalism.

Here's what the president may not see at his top-dollar fundraising events: California has the highest poverty rate, nearly the highest unemployment rate, and, according to CEOs, the worst business climate in the nation. 

Books by former presidential aides can also express the views of public servants who tried very hard to fulfill the responsibilities of their positions and, in so doing, clashed with their president.

Late in the game, it's looking like a three-way race in South Dakota, with Independent Larry Pressler pulling support from Republican Mike Rounds. Once viewed as a spoiler, Pressler may be on his way to becoming a contender.

Despite the promises of candidate Obama to wind down US involvement in Iraq, the US – as the sole superpower – no longer has the luxury of choosing whether to take the lead in foreign affairs. It's a reality Obama, as president, came to reluctantly.

President Obama has backed down on this issue in the past and, if Republicans win the Senate, a plausible case can be made that immigration reform is not important enough an issue to tie up operations of government.

It's not easy to escape the gravitational pull of a collapsing presidency. Ask John McCain. The biggest danger to the Ready for Hillary juggernaut is Barack Obama.

Actually, the roots of deep public skepticism go back 50 years to when President Johnson took the nation into a war that, we now know, he did not believe could be won.

Congress has gradually abdicated its own authority since at least the 1940s. It's a systemic transfer of power between branches, and, in each instance, much of the blame lies with Congress itself.

Public approval of Republicans fell to historic lows after the 16-day shutdown a year ago today. Yet heading into midterm elections, House Republicans find themselves in their strongest position politically since they took back the House in 2011.

When there is a significant burden on voters imposed for no good reason, or imposed for a partisan reason, then courts should shut down voting restrictions. The Ohio case did not involve significant burdens.

If polling trends continue, then Republicans wouldn’t need to worry about Kansas, because they would still have a majority, even if Sen. Pat Roberts loses. All the major forecasters now give the edge to the GOP.

If there was ever an opportunity to appoint somebody 'like Ginsburg,' now would be as good a time as any. Senate partisanship is likely to get worse in coming years, and the chances of confirming more liberal or conservative justices will continue to dim.

By putting off a vote authorizing war with the Islamic State until a lame-duck session of Congress – or next January – Congress is making itself increasingly irrelevant in foreign policy. 

The idea that a fence jumper made it so far into the White House raises serious questions about the competence of the Secret Service in what was supposed to be one of the most secure buildings in the world. 

The risk that the GOP might gain control of the Senate in 2015 is fueling speculation that the White House and Senate Democrats will attempt to bring the nomination before the Senate during the upcoming post-election lame-duck session. It's a bad idea. 

Congress, if it musters the political will, has more than enough powers to bring any president to heel. Members acquiesce because they think the president has the better argument, politically speaking. That could change after November elections.

In a rare move, social conservative activists urge general election votes against GOP US House candidates Carl DeMaio and Richard Tisei, US Senate candidate Monica Wehby, even though it could boost Democrats.