It's that time of year -- the latest average of lifetime vote records among all members of Congress. 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/
I'll be posting my averages in four parts. Today, the Senate. Tomorrow, House liberals, the day after that, House moderates, and finally House conservatives.
I've done this for a few years now, so I've seen a little trending. Some interesting tidbits, and things to consider when reading these rankings:
-- 1. The moderation of the moderate Republicans. Some of the GOP moderates had their lifetime numbers get skewed liberal this past year, since they had some pretty moderate voting records for 2005 alone. Check out these numbers:
(name, lifetime rating, 2005 rating):
Lincoln Chafee: 62.7, 81.5
Olympia Snowe: 46.4, 66.5
Susan Collins: 42, 66.5
Mike DeWine: 19.1, 47
Norm Coleman: 23.5, 33
With numbers like those, Lincoln Chafee is entering Jacob Javits territory (the legendary liberal Republican from New York). I'd be perfectly fine with him in the Senate if it wasn't for that pesky "R" attached to his name (and the occasional partisan voting that comes with it).
Why are these Senators going for moderation? Could be any of the following: 1. The issues in 2005 favored the Senators' moderate sides. 2. The combination of Bush being re-elected and a more comfortable GOP Senate majority means the GOP doesn't always need their votes to get legislation passed, so they're free to vote however they want. 3. Pure political survival, especially with an unpopular President. This might especially apply for those in re-election campaings in states where the GOP has lost popularity in the last year (Chafee & DeWine come to mind).
-- 2. Freshmen are marked with an asterisk. Every so often, a Senator will have an unusual voting year, where their number is much more liberal or conservative than it usually would be, due to the issues, the political climate, or missing Senate votes due to illness or campaigning. That's why lifetime ratings are good -- they average everything out to take care of outliers. But, if that unusual year happens during their first year, their lifetime rating will still look odd. Hence, the asterisk.
For example, Ken Salazar was no darling of the folks here at Daily Kos about a year ago, yet the ADA gave him a 100. I don't know many who'd call him a perfect liberal, but that's what the ADA number said. Could be the votes they considered important for their ratings are different from votes we consider important. Regardless, that shows why freshmens' numbers should be viewed a little hesitantly.
-- 3. Since some current & former U.S. Representatives are running for Senate this year, I thought I'd include their lifetime numbers for comparison, in case they ultimately win come November:
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio): 93.2
Harold Ford (D-Tennessee): 80.2
Former Rep. Van Hilleary (R-Tennessee): 3.6
Former Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tennessee): 1.8
Katherine Harris (R-Florida): 7
Ed Case (D-Hawaii): 85.5
Ben Cardin (D-Maryland): 91.3
Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Maryland): 96
Mark Kennedy (R-Minnesota): 7.5
Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont): 95.9
So, here are the numbers. For Jim Jeffords and Richard Shelby, these are their lifetime numbers since their party change. And, yes, Jon Corzine is in here, since he was in the Senate throughout 2005.
*******
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)--96.5
Jack Reed (D-RI)--96.3
Barack Obama (D-IL)--96*
Dick Durbin (D-IL)--94.9
Charles Schumer (D-NY)--94.9
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)--94.4
Patty Murray (D-WA)--94.1
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)--94
Pat Leahy (D-VT)--93.7
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)--93.7
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)--93.6
John Kerry (D-MA)--93.6
Jon Corzine (D-NJ)--93.5
Deborah Stabenow (D-MI)--93.5
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)--93.5
Carl Levin (D-MI)--92.7
Russ Feingold (D-WI)--92.6
Ron Wyden (D-OR)--92.2
Tom Harkin (D-IA)--91.9
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)--91.8
Mark Dayton (D-MN)--91
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)--90.5
Chris Dodd (D-CT)--89.3
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)--88.3
Herb Kohl (D-WI)--88.1
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)--88
Tom Carper (D-DE)--85
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)--84.5
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)--84.5
Dan Inouye (D-HI)--84
Bill Nelson (D-FL)--84
Ken Salazar (D-CO)--84*
Jim Jeffords (I-VT)--83.3
Tim Johnson (D-SD)--83.1
Evan Bayh (D-IN)--82.4
Max Baucus (D-MT)--81.6
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)--81.4
Kent Conrad (D-ND)--81.3
Joe Lieberman (D-CT)--81.3
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)--80.6
Joe Biden (D-DE)--80.4
Harry Reid (D-NV)--79.7
Mark Pryor (D-AR)--78.3
Robert Byrd (D-WV)--67.2
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)--62.7
Arlen Specter (R-PA)--54.9
Ben Nelson (D-NE)--52
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)--46.4
Susan Collins (R-ME)--42
Ted Stevens (R-AK)--27.9
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)--24.5
Norm Coleman (R-MN)--23.5
Gordon Smith (R-OR)--23.4
Pete Domenici (R-NM)--19.4
George Voinovich (R-OH)--19.4
Mike DeWine (R-OH)--19.1
John Warner (R-VA)--15.9
John McCain (R-AZ)--15.5
Richard Lugar (R-IN)--15.3
Thad Cochran (R-MS)--15.1
Charles Grassley (R-IA)--14.6
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)--14.5
Kit Bond (R-MO)--14.1
Judd Gregg (R-NH)--13.7
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)--13
John Thune (R-SD)--12.5*
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)--12.1
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)--11
David Vitter (R-LA)--10.5*
Richard Santorum (R-PA)--10.2
James Talent (R-MO)--10.2
Robert Bennett (R-UT)--9.8
John Ensign (R-NV)--9.5
Richard Shelby (R-AL)--9.1
Pat Roberts (R-KS)--9.1
George Allen (R-VA)--9
John Sununu (R-NH)--8.8
William Frist (R-TN)--8.8
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)--8.5*
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)--8.5
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)--8.2
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)--8.1
Craig Thomas (R-WY)--8.0
Conrad Burns (R-MT)--7.9
Michael Enzi (R-WY)--7.4
John Cornyn (R-TX)--7.2
Richard Burr (R-NC)--7*
Michael Crapo (R-ID)--6.7
Trent Lott (R-MS)--5.9
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)--5.5
James Bunning (R-KY)--5.1
Larry Craig (R-ID)--4.7
Sam Brownback (R-KS)--4.5
Mel Martinez (R-FL)--4.5*
James Inhofe (R-OK)--4.1
Tom Coburn (R-OK)--4*
Wayne Allard (R-CO)--3.6
Jim DeMint (R-SC)--3.5*
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)--3
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)--2.9