Now, Part 2 of my averages of lifetime voting records. Today, it's the liberal end of the House of Representatives. Once again, what I've done is taken the lifetime ratings from Americans for Democratic Action and the American Conservative Union, and averaged the two. Why these two organizations? They've been analyzing congressional votes for a long time (since 1948 for the ADA, 1971 for the ACU), so there's comparative perspective amongst their rankings throughout history. Also, they're broadly conservative or liberal, as opposed to one-issue groups. Since they're perfect opposities, averaging their numbers can give a good idea of where a congressman stands ideologically. If you'd like to see the raw data from where I made my averages, and how they come up with their ratings, here are their websites:
ADA: http://adaction.org/...
ACU: http://acuratings.org/...
The next two days I'll be posting Parts 3 & 4, the House Moderates & Conservatives. Yesterday I posted numbers from the Senate. In case you missed it, here it is:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
One important point: You may be wondering why 3 House members scored a perfect 100. It's almost impossible for a Congressman/Congresswoman to have consistent yearly ratings throughout their career. Every so often, they'll have a fluke year where their number is more liberal or conservative than usual, either because they missed a lot of votes due to sickness or campagning for another office, or the votes worked out odd that year, or something like that. That's why lifetime averages are helpful because they tend to cancel out those fluky years. However, it's tough to tell with freshmen if their first year was a fluke or not since their lifetime rating is for just one year.
Also, it's next to impossible to score a perfect 100 or 0 throughout a career, but easy to do in one year. All three who scored a 100 in this ranking are freshmen -- expect their numbers to drop some in the coming years.
Here are the numbers. Once again, thse are through 2005, the reason Bob Menendez is on this list.
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Doris Matsui (D-CA)--100
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL)--100
Gwen Moore (D-WI)--100
Hilda Solis (D-CA)--99
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)--98.5
Linda Sanchez (D-CA)--98.5
John Tierney (D-MA)--98.2
James McGovern (D-MA)--97.9
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)--97.9
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)--97.7
Jerry Nadler (D-NY)--97.7
Barney Frank (D-MA)--97.5
Betty McCollum (D-MN) --97.5
Russ Carnahan (D-MO)--97.5
John Olver (D-MA)--97.4
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)--97.4
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)--97.1
Danny Davis (D-IL)--97.1
Tim Bishop (D-NY)--97
Lane Evans (D-IL)--96.9
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)--96.7
Major Owens (D-NY)--96.5
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)--96.4
John Lewis (D-GA)--96.3
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)--96.3
Martin Sabo (D-MN)--96.3
Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)--96.1
Thomas Allen (D-ME)--96.1
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)--96
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)--95.9
Sander Levin (D-MI)--95.9
Tom Udall (D-NM)--95.9
Elijah Cummings (D-MD)--95.8
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)--95.8
Jose Serrano (D-NY)--95.8
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)--95.8
Michael Capuano (D-MA)--95.7
Sam Farr (D-CA)--95.6
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)--95.6
Pete Stark (D-CA)--95.5
Michael Honda (D-CA)--95.5
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)--95.4
William Delahunt (D-MA)--95.4
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)--95.3
Carloyn Maloney (D-NY)--95.1
Julia Carson (D-IN)--95.1
Brad Miller (D-NC)--95
George Miller (D-CA)--95
Edward Markey (D-MA)--94.9
Donald Payne (D-NJ)--94.9
Bobby Rush (D-IL)--94.8
Bob Filner (D-CA)--94.8
Henry Waxman (D-CA)--94.8
Maxine Waters (D-CA)--94.7
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)--94.7
John Larson (D-CT)--94.6
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)--94.4
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)--94.4
Nita Lowey (D-NY)--94.4
Jim McDermott (D-WA)--94.4
Barbara Lee (D-CA)--94.3
Cynthia McKinney (D-GA)--94.2
Tom Lantos (D-CA)--94.1
Xavier Becerra (D-CA)--94.1
Diana DeGette (D-CO)--94.1
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)--93.9
Robert Brady (D-PA)--93.8
Robert Wexler (D-FL)--93.8
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)--93.7
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)--93.7
Charlie Rangel (D-NY)--93.6
Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX)--93.5
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)--93.2
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)--93
Eliot Engel (D-NY)--92.9
Mark Udall (D-CO)--92.9
Brad Sherman (D-CA)--92.83
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)--92.6
Rush Holt (D-NJ)--92.6
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)--92.5
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)--92.4
John Conyers (D-MI)--92.4
Melvin Watt (D-NC)--92.3
Albert Wynn (D-MD)--92.1
Susan Davis (D-CA)--92
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)--92
Bobby Scott (D-VA)--91.9
Howard Berman (D-CA)--91.8
Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)--91.8
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)--91.8
Jay Inslee (D-WA)--91.4
Ben Cardin (D-MD)--91.3
Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)--91.2
Corrine Brown (D-FL)--91.11
Marty Meehan (D-MA)--91.1
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)--91.1
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)--91
Steven Rothman (D-NJ)--90.7
David Wu (D-OR)--90.5
Adam Schiff (D-CA)--90.5
Edolphus Towns (D-NY)--90.5
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)--90.4
Kendrick Meek (D-FL)--90.2
William Lacy Clay (D-MO)--90
Richard Neal (D-MA)--89.9
Pat Kennedy (D-RI)--89.9
Dave Obey (D-WI)--88.8
Lois Capps (D-CA)--89.6
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)--89.6
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)--89.6
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)--89.5
Brian Higgins (D-NY)--89.5
Diane Watson (D-CA)--89.5
Darlene Hooley (D-OR)--89.1
James Clyburn (D-SC)--88.8
Peter DeFazio D-OR)--88.7
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)--88.7
Mike Thompson (D-CA)--88.6
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)--88.6
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)--88.4
Brian Baird (D-WA)--88.3
James Oberstar (D-MN)--87.7
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)--87.6
Dale Kildee (D-MI)--87.4
David Price (D-NC)--87
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)--86.2
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) --86.1
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)--86.1
Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)--85.9
Ron Kind (D-WI)--85.9
Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD)--85.8
Ed Case (D-HI)--85.5
Ted Strickland (D-OH)--85.1
Rick Larsen (D-WA)--85
Vic Snyder (D-AR)--84.9
Peter Visclosky (D-IN)--84.6
Dan Lipinski (D-IL)--84.5
James Langevin (D-RI)--84.5
Steve Israel (D-NY)--84.5
Melissa Bean (D-IL)--84
Michael Michaud (D-ME)--83.8
Norman Dicks (D-WA)--83.8
Joe Baca (D-CA)--83.8
William Jefferson (D-LA)--83.6
Tim Ryan (D-OH)--83.5
John Dingell (D-MI)--83.5
Stephen Lynch (D-MA)--83.3
Jim Davis (D-FL)--82.6
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)--82.6
Dennis Moore (D-KS)--82.5
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)--82
Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)--81.5
Adam Smith (D-WA)--81.3
Jim Moran (D-VA)--80.9
Michael McNulty (D-NY)--80.6
Rick Boucher (D-VA)--80.2
Harold Ford (D-TN)--80.2
Gene Green (D-TX)--80.1