The news about Feingold lately got me thinking. I didn't know much about him at all, so I thought I'd better inform myself. One of the tools I use frequently is Project Vote Smart (www.vote-smart.org) and similar sites to check voting records.
I decided to do a side by side comparison of the ratings of some of the probable candidates, both to help me make some preliminary decisions.
Once I did this, it opened my eyes a little. Some of these people have remarkably similar voting records. Of course, we also have to weigh a number of other factors, but this is interesting, I think.
My methodology: I simply selected a few issues that are important to me (gay rights, civil liberties, etc.) and checked their ratings from some of the leading groups. All of the ratings are on a scale of 0-100, of course. This is far from a comprehensive listing, but it's a start.
Hillary Clinton
NARAL (Abortion Rights) 100
ASPCA (Animal Rights) 100
ACLU (Civil Liberties) 78
HRC (Gay Rights) 88
NAACP (Civil Rights) 100
NEA (Education) 85
Christian Coalition (Conservative Crap) 0
Family Research Council (Conservative Crap) 0
League of Conservation Voters (Environment) 92
Children's Defense Fund (Children's/Family Issues) 100
Gun Owners of America (Gun Control/Gun Rights) 0
American Public Health Association (Healthcare) 100
AFL-CIO (Labor) 100
SEIU (Labor) 100
Russ Feingold
NARAL (Abortion Rights) 100
ASPCA (Animal Rights) 80
ACLU (Civil Liberties) 89
HRC (Gay Rights) 80
NAACP (Civil Rights) 97
NEA (Education) 85
Christian Coalition (Conservative Crap) 0
Family Research Council (Conservative Crap) 0
League of Conservation Voters (Environment) 92
Childrens Defense Fund (Children's/Family Issues) 100
Gun Owners of America (Gun Control/GunRights) 10
American Public Health Association (Healthcare) 71
AFL-CIO (Labor) 92
SEIU (Labor) 100
Joe Biden
NARAL (Abortion Rights) 100
ASPCA (Animal Rights) 100
ACLU (Civil Liberties) 86
HRC (Gay Rights) 63
NAACP (Civil Rights) 100
NEA (Education) 90
Christian Coalition (Conservative Crap) 16
Family Research Council (Conservative Crap) 0
League of Conservation Voters (Environment) 92
Childrens Defense Fund (Children's/Family Issues) 100
Gun Owners of America (Gun Control/GunRights) 10
American Public Health Association (Healthcare) 86
AFL-CIO (Labor) 100
SEIU (Labor) 100
John Kerry
NARAL (Abortion Rights) 100
ASPCA (Animal Rights) 100
ACLU (Civil Liberties) 100
HRC (Gay Rights) 100
NAACP (Civil Rights) 100
NEA (Education) 100
Christian Coalition (Conservative Crap) 0
Family Research Council (Conservative Crap) 0
League of Conservation Voters (Environment) 44
Childrens Defense Fund (Children's/Family Issues) 36
Gun Owners of America (Gun Control/GunRights) 10
American Public Health Association (Healthcare) 100
AFL-CIO (Labor) 100
SEIU (Labor) 100
Evan Bayh
NARAL (Abortion Rights) 100
ASPCA (Animal Rights) 60
ACLU (Civil Liberties) 56
HRC (Gay Rights) 75
NAACP (Civil Rights) 100
NEA (Education) 90
Christian Coalition (Conservative Crap) 33
Family Research Council (Conservative Crap) 0
League of Conservation Voters (Environment) 80
Childrens Defense Fund (Children's/Family Issues) 100
Gun Owners of America (Gun Control/GunRights) 10
American Public Health Association (Healthcare) 71
AFL-CIO (Labor) 100
SEIU (Labor) 100