Capital Journal

• Public Policy Side Effect: Girls Rule, Boys Drool?

  Policies matter, and government and private sector convergence on a problem can lead to change, but beware of the unintended consequences.

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  GOP Hopefuls Get Ready for 2012

  The next presidential race will begin Nov. 3, the day after this fall's congressional election, and the outcome of the midterms will do much to determine the contours of the 2012 campaign.

• Obama's Remaining Pitch to Voters: It Would Be Worse Without Me

  The political argument over the next two months will boil down to this: Democrats will argue that Obama policies have staved off even worse economic problems while Republicans will argue that the president's agenda has made the economic recovery worse and could lead to a double-dip recession.

• It's Not Just the Jobs. It's the Jobs Machine.

  The debate over what can be done to get Americans back to work is missing a deeper and more troubling reality: The American economy hasn't been a very robust jobs-producer for quite a while.

  • News Hub: Recovering the Lost Jobs Machine

• Primaries as Precursors

  This year's primaries have been more eventful than most in recent years. Four representatives, three senators and one governor have been denied renomination thus far, with the number of Senate casualties already the highest since 1980. What does that mean for November?

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  Social Security Taboo: Is It Time to Apply a Means Test?

  The spat between the head of a presidential commission and a special interest group over how to deal with Social Security's financial challenges is the opening shot of what will be a very nasty fight.