All Politics Voices

Derek Jeter, who drove in the winning run in his last home game Thursday, transcends his statistics. He is a winner. He did all the little things that make winning possible. And he let his baseball playing do all the talking.

Politicians are so unpopular these days that a nonpolitician like conservative hero Ben Carson might seem a natural choice for president. But it rarely works.

Budget debates on Capitol Hill have been extraordinarily contentious in recent years. Sooner rather than later, Congress needs to come to terms on how to pay for this war.

US airstrikes, and what follows, are unlikely to be sufficient to wipe out IS and may not necessarily do anything to seriously degrade its military position. Moreover, the US is now, effectively, aiding the regime of Bashar Assad in its civil war. 

Measuring Congress by the number of days spent in session in Washington misses the point. Members of Congress don't just vote on bills, they also represent their constituents. That means connecting with them at home.

Scotland allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in a referendum over whether to break away from the United Kingdom. But outside Takoma Park, Md., there's no movement in the US to extend the franchise to voters under 18.

Most Americans say that they don't care 'a great deal' about which party controls the Congress, but the drop since 2010 has been especially notable among Republicans.

With at least four same-sex marriage cases before it, the Supreme Court is widely expected to take up the issue next year. But Justice Ginsburg threw a little cold water on that assumption when she suggested that the key is how the Sixth Circuit rules.

Rush Limbaugh recalls the Reagan years as a time when 'it was exciting to be a Republican,' but he's overlooking the searing criticism Reagan sustained at the hands of conservatives over taxes, nuclear arms, and big deficits.

After a disastrous rollout, Obamacare looked to be a prime target for Republicans in midterm elections, especially against vulnerable Democratic senators in red states. But the issue fizzled.

The fact that a candidate like Mike Huckabee could win the Iowa caucuses is the reason to end the Iowa caucuses.

LBJ, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama lost elections, but used the lessons to score future victories.

It seems that every time Congress passes an explicit war authorization, we get involved in a pretty big war. When the president just kind of does it on his own authority, the engagement tends to be much more limited.

Is it good to give federal courts the right to take away from the states the authority that the Constitution gives them to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections?

With an eye to midterm elections, look for Congress to wrap up spending bills in a stopgap measure, clash over reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, punt on immigration reform, and stage votes to distress the other side.

President Obama will delay any executive actions on immigration until after the midterm elections, but it's not clear whether that will really help Democrats.

First, Democrat Chad Taylor bows out of the race, boosting prospects for independent Greg Orman. Then, the GOP secretary of state determined that Taylor's name must stay on the ballot. The outcome could swing control of the Senate.

Many expected that President Obama would dismantle President Bush's war on terror and the assault on civil liberties at home in its name. But the terrorist threat still loomed and public pressure to protect the homeland remained. So did the dark precedents.

The 'October surprise' has been a fixture of US campaign seasons. It's just about time for that even-year big event that will change the mood of the country or, at least, get the right voters to the polls.

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was mentioned as a possible vice presidential selection in 2012.