Back again, the lifetime vote ratings of all members of Congress. To get an idea of the ideological balance of Congress, I take the yearly vote ratings from two organzations: one liberal (Americans for Democratic Action, or the ADA) and one conservative (the American Conservative Union, or the ACU). I use these two for the sake of historical comparison: the ADA has taken vote ratings since the late 40s, and the ACU since 1971. That way, I can compare the ideology of today's members of Congress against those from past decades, all evaluated using the same rating methodology. It's also a good way to compare how a current member of Congress voted 2-3 decades ago vs. today.
I average the ratings from the ADA & ACU to come up with what I think is an appropriate average number of where a Senator or Representative is on a scale of 0-100, 0 being most conservative, 100 most liberal. These are lifetime ratings, updated with votes from 2007.
Here's where I got my figures:
ADA
ACU
You may ask why I don't incorporate other ratings, especially the well-known National Journal ratings. For one, it takes A LOT of time to do these averages; I'd include more ratings if I got paid to do it! Second, the National Journal ratings go back to the 1990s, so they're not as historically viable as the ADA & ACU (and, they seem to go behind a subscription firewall after awhile, so for non-subscription folks like me, they're somewhat inaccessible). Third, they seem to spread every members ratings evenly on a scale of 1-100; whereas the ADA & ACU determine simply how liberal or conservative a member is...thus, producing a more accurate view of where on the ideological scale a member of Congress is.
Today, I start with the Senate. A few interesting points:
- Nothing like a Democratic-controlled Congress to bring out the moderate in a Republican. Or, at least for a few of them. Compare these Senators' lifetime vote ratings and their 2007 rating:
Gordon Smith--26.1--53.5
Richard Lugar--16.4--42.5
John Warner--16.6--37.5
Olympia Snowe--46.9--66
Orrin Hatch--9.1--27
George Voinovich--22.8--38.5
Susan Collins--44.4--59.5
Norm Coleman--28.5--43
Arlen Specter--54.8--60
Why did this happen? For one, the hot-button socially conservative legislation that would always get advanced by Republican leadership rarely is seen with the Democratis in charge. Plus, the Democrats will bring up legislation that more moderate Republicans would have always supported, but was never brought up for a vote with the GOP in control. And, yes, probably some maneuvering for re-election (see: Smith, Gordon).
- 2007 marked the first full year of Joe Lieberman as an "independent Democrat". With his increasing role as, more or less, Official Neocon Spokesperson, one would think his voting record would now reflect his increasingly conservative public statements. One would be wrong:
Vote rating from 1989-2006 (as a Democrat): 81.2
Vote rating from 2007: 81
The main reason is that he still votes the liberal position on a lot of non-foreign policy issues. And, this is just one year of vote ratings with him as an independent, so we'll have to see if he's any different in 2008. But for now, as for as voting goes, there's no real change. As far as rhetoric goes, that's another story...
- The freshmen appeared on the scale about where I thought they'd land. The one exception: Bob Casey. For all the talk about how he was more of a conservative Democrat (especially when it came to abortion), I fully expected him to be more in the moderate wing. Yet, he's near the liberal end (96 out of 100). Why? I'd guess part of it is the same reason we had Republicans with more moderate records: a lack of votes on socially conservative issues (like partial-birth abortion and gay marriage). It could also be a one-year fluke: I recall Ken Salazar scoring a 100 in the ADA in his freshmen year, despite causing a lot of controversy around Daily Kos with some decidedly non-progressive votes that year. He's finally settled about where you might expect him, in the mid 80s. Don't be surprised if that's where we eventually see Casey after a few years of ratings.
Here they are, the vote ratings of the Senate:
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)--98
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)--97.5
Bob Casey (D-PA)--96
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)--95.7
Barack Obama (D-IL)--95.3
Ben Cardin (D-MD)--94.7
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)--94.4
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)--94.4
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)--94.4
Jack Reed (D-RI)--94.2
Patty Murray (D-WA)--94.1
Pat Leahy (D-VT)--93.9
John Kerry (D-MA)--93.4
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)--93.3
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--93.1
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)--93.1
Russ Feingold (D-WI)--93
Carl Levin (D-MI)--92.9
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)--92.5
Dick Durbin (D-IL)--92.2
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)--92.1
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)--91.6
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)--91
Tom Harkin (D-IA)--90.6
Ron Wyden (D-OR)--90.6
Jon Tester (D-MT)--89.5
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)--89.2
Herb Kohl (D-WI)--88.6
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)--88.4
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)--88.2
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)--87.8
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)--87.7
Ken Salazar (D-CO)--86.2
Tom Carper (D-DE)--85.6
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)--85.4
Jim Webb (D-VA)--84.5
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)--84.4
Evan Bayh (D-IN)--83.4
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)--82.7
Joe Biden (D-DE)--81.2
*Joe Lieberman (D/ID-CT)--81.2
Kent Conrad (D-ND)--81
**Joe Lieberman (ID-CT)--81
Max Baucus (D-MT)--80.4
Tim Johnson (D-SD)--79.6
Harry Reid (D-NV)--79.3
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)--78.6
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)--78.6
Mark Pryor (D-AR)--78.4
Robert Byrd (D-WV)--68
Bill Nelson (D-FL)--55.1
Arlen Specter (R-PA)--54.8
Ben Nelson (D-NE)--52.3
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)--46.9
Susan Collins (R-ME)--44.4
Norm Coleman (R-MN)--28.5
Ted Stevens (R-AK)--27.6
Gordon Smith (R-OR)--26.1
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)--24.5
George Voinovich (R-OH)--22.8
*Richard Shelby (D/R-AL)--21.9
Pete Domenici (R-NM)--19.2
Bob Corker (R-TN)--18.5
Judd Gregg (R-NH)--16.2
John Warner (R-VA)--16.6
Richard Lugar (R-IN)--16.4
John McCain (R-AZ)--15.7
Thad Cochran (R-MS)--14.9
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)--14.8
Kit Bond (R-MO)--14.5
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)--14.2
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)--13.4
Robert Bennett (R-UT)--11.4
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)--11
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)--10.9
Mel Martinez (R-FL)--10.8
John Thune (R-SD)--10.6
**Richard Shelby (R-AL)--10
Pat Roberts (R-KS)--9.6
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)--9.1
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)--8.9
***Craig Thomas (R-WY)--8.5
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)--8.3
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)--7.9
John Ensign (R-NV)--7.8
John Sununu (R-NH)--7.7
Richard Burr (R-NC)--7.5
Michael Enzi (R-WY)--7.1
John Cornyn (R-TX)--7
Mike Crapo (R-ID)--6.5
***Trent Lott (R-MS)--5.8
David Vitter (R-LA)--5.4
Larry Craig (R-ID)--5.2
Jim Bunning (R-KY)--5.1
John Barrasso (R-WY)--5
Sam Brownback (R-KS)--5
****Roger Wicker (R-MS)--4.8
Wayne Allard (R-CO)--4.5
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)--4.4
Tom Coburn (R-OK)--4.3
James Inhofe (R-OK)--4.1
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)--4.1
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)----2.9
Jim DeMint (R-SC)--2.3
*: Richard Shelby's & Joe Lieberman's lifetime scores including their years as a Democrat
**: Richard Shelby's & Joe Lieberman's lifetime scores including only their years as a Republican & Independent, respectively.
***: Members in the Senate through 2007 but no longer in the Senate
****: Roger Wicker's score from the House, to show where he places ideologically amongst other Senators.