109th Congress ends --- Time to see Democratic report card

[Zodiak]

Greetings. As some of you may know, I decide my level of my support of Democratic senators based on a scoring system that I devised that focuses only on bill passages and nominations (I leave out amendments and most procedural vote...Alito cloture and Ohio certification being exceptions). For my own support, I use this system versus the others (ADA, progressive punch) because I am intimately familiar with the methodology, and I get very close to the issues when I have to track down all of the votes.

But I digress. I have not done this work for Sept, which I was scheduled to do because we really needed to win and I thought that posting my scores would lead to accusations of divisiveness (they happen anyways, but I thought that those arguments would be somewhat justified at that time). But it is done, now.

Here are the scores (from best to worst).

Democratic Senator percentage

Harkin (Iowa) 82.75862069
Boxer (California) 82.75862069
Feingold (Wisconsin) 82.75862069
Kennedy (Massacheusetts) 77.5862069
Corzine (New Jersey) now Gov. 76.66666667
Lautenberg (New Jersey) 75.86206897
Durbin (Illinois) 75.86206897
Akaka (Hawaii) 75.86206897
Sarbanes (Maryland) 72.4137931
Kerry (Massacheusetts) DLC 70.68965517
Leahy (Vermont) 70.68965517
Levin (Michigan) 68.96551724
Mikulski (Maryland) 68.96551724
Reed (Rhode Island) 68.96551724
Biden (Deleware) 67.24137931
Dodd (Connecticut) 65.51724138
Wyden (Oregon) 65.51724138
Dayton (Minnesota) 65.51724138
Obama (Illinois) 63.79310345
Bayh (Indiana) DLC 60.34482759
Murray (Washington) 60.34482759
Schumer (New York) DLC 58.62068966
Inouye (Hawaii) DLC 56.89655172
Bingaman (New Mexico) 56.89655172
Dorgan (North Dakota) DLC 55.17241379
Reid (Nevada) 55.17241379
Byrd (West Virginia) 55.17241379
Clinton (New York) DLC 53.44827586
Menendez (New Jersey) DLC 50
Cantwell (Washington) DLC 48.27586207
Stabenow (Michigan) DLC 46.55172414
Kohl (Wisconsin) DLC 44.82758621
Feinstein (California) DLC 44.82758621
Leiberman (Connecticut) DLC 44.82758621
Rockefeller (West Virginia) 41.37931034
Conrad (North Dakota) DLC 41.37931034
Baucus (Montana) DLC 39.65517241
Carper (Deleware) DLC 34.48275862
Johnson (South Dakota) DLC 31.03448276
Lincoln (Arkansas) DLC 31.03448276
Salazar (Colorado) DLC 24.13793103
Pryor (Arkansas) DLC 22.4137931
Nelson (Florida) DLC 20.68965517
Landrieu (Louisianna) DLC 17.24137931
Nelson (Nebraska) DLC 3.448275862

Well...there you have it. There has been considerable movement for a few of the senators since the last time I made these calculations (Kennedy and Kerry have bifurcated where they were right with each toehr before).

Here is the journal article with my last scores.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Zodiak%20Ironfist/4


Here are the 29 issues that I scored (and how I felt the issue should be voted on):
------------------------------------------
Condi confirm (nay)
Gonzales Confirm (nay)
class action law (nay)
bankruptcy bill (nay)
confirm negroponte (nay)
energy bill (nay)
CAFTA (nay)
CAFTA (2nd vote) (nay)
ohiovote (no to certification, 5 points for at least giving a speech)
firearm manufacturer immunity (nay)
confirmation of radical judges (gang of 14 = 5 pts, voting for one or more of these judges 0)
tax relief act of 2005 (tax cuts for rich) (nay)
deficit reconciliation act (spending cuts for poor) (nay)
Alito cloture (nay)
Alito nomination (nay)
Tax cut protection (favor the rich) (nay)
Extend Patriot Act (nay)
Raise limit on public debt (nay)
Flag burning Amendment (nay)
US-Oman FTA (nay)
Roberts Confirmation (nay)
Gates' confirmation (nay)
Atomic cooperation w/ India (nay)
Border Fence (nay)
Military Commissions act (nay)
Pension protection act (nay...not sure about this one, actually..Feingold and Boxer voted nay)
Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (nay)
Child Insterstate Abortion Notification Act (nay)
Stem Cell Enhancement Act (yeah)

A couple of issues listed here did not serve to distinguish between Dem senators (because they all voted together), but they were included because they were important votes (the Gates' confirmation).

Anyways...that is the Senate how I see it. If anyone is interested in doing this themselves, please PM me your email address and I will send you the Excel file to save you some research. You can then tweak it to your own tastes.

(yes, I flag DLC Senators. When I started this exercise, I wanted to know how they stood on the big issues. The senators in bold are the ones I am sure are running for Pres in 2008. I am sure I have missed a few)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thanks for this important work

I appreciate seeing your gradecards. As usual, my senators are in the 30s...Lincoln and Pryor.

[Zodiak]

2. Thanks. Your interest is the reason I post it. n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Thank you for your work

You might want to add on each of those issues wheter an Aye counted as a plus of a minus.

[Zodiak]

4. Thanks for the suggestion

I have done that in the past, but I am a little pressed for time to fully flesh out the post (have to leave town tomorrow morning) today.

I plan on doing some multivariate statistics (PCA) on the data to see which of the bills passed this last Congress was the most indicative of 1)the DLC flag and 2)those that vote >50% progressive vs. less than 50%. This might help me identify the "wedge issues" to which we need to arrive at an intraparty consensus to strengthen the coalition.

I'll also post a graphical representation along with it...if anyone is interested.

ON EDIT: I made the changes...it was easy. Since the pukes were setting the agenda, 95% of the votes should have been "nay".

[WritersBlock]

5. Doesn't surprise me that Landrieu's next to last.

We need a Democrat in the seat she's currently occupying.

[Zodiak]

6. Yeah...she is a disappointment

and what is really sad is that her voting history was just as bad before Katrina hit, so the argument that she is voting that way to get help from the pukes in the WH is not valid.

I bet a populist would be a good choice to run against her. I would imagine that Louisiannans (forgive me if that is wrong) are a bit tired of the corporate line after last year and are ready for a economic justice type (not a social liberal, though).

Even Leiberman gives better represntation for Democrats.

[Zodiak]

7. I have to add one thing

Harkin is a really an amazing senator. As progressive as his voting record is, he manages to avoid the "liberal" label and has not had the swiftboaters target him. He can fly under the radar all he wants as long as he votes the way he has been (with a couple of exceptions)

[Hippo_Tron]

8. There's about zero chance of finding someone better than Landrieu in Louisiana

The only major Democrat that is better is her brother who obviously won't challenge her and just lost his election for mayor of New Orleans.

Yea Mary bugs me a bit but then I look at the Republicans that could be holding her seat and she looks a hell of a lot better. We need to focus our energy on beating David Vitter not on defeating Landrieu. The GOP will be working plenty hard to do that.

I'd add that the major turning point in her voting record was when Shurb got into office or possibly 9/11. Of course that was close to an election year so I can see why she'd vote more to the right close to election time. The thing is that after being re-elected she never went back to voting the way she used to.

[Zodiak]

9. I have a hard time believing that there is not a better Dem

maybe not a presently visible one, but certainly SOMEONE on the Democratic side in LA will not deliver 80% BushCo-sponsored voting and has a modicum of charisma.

And yes, many Republicans would be worse.

[w4rma]

14. A better target is Senator Carper in Deleware. It's a small state so a primary challenge won't cost

much. It's a progressive state so it is extremely likely that the Democratic winner of the primary will win the general, also.

[skipos]

10. 2 red state senators in your top 20, 1 blue state senator in your bottom 10

I bet your analysis will usually have results like that.

[Zodiak]

11. They do, but the numbers change a bit.

I believe I made commentary on that before. I think last time I did this (6 months ago), there were 4 blue state senators on the bottom (Leiberman, Carper, Feinstein, Cantwell).

I love that we have red states on the top. Shows that one doesn't have to be like a Republican to win over a conservative state. They are also Senators that we should fight tooth and nail to keep, in my opinion.

[Zodiak]

12. Here are the numbers from the first time I did this Sept 2005

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/10/133312/333

Harkin (Iowa) 95
Boxer (CA) 90
Lautenberg (NJ) 90
Akaka (Hawaii) 80
Corzine (NJ) 80
Dayton (MN) 80
Durbin (IL) 80
Feingold (WI) 80
Kennedy (MA) 80
Kerry (MA) 80 - DLC
Levin (MI) 80
Dodd (CN) 70 - DLC
Leahy (VT) 70
Mikulski (MD) 70
Reed (RI) 70
Sarbanes (MD) 70
Shumer (NY) 70
Wyden (OR) 70
Clinton (NY) 65 - DLC
Obama (IL) 65
Bayh (IN) 60 - DLC
Biden (DE) 60
Dorgan (ND) 60 - DLC
Stabenow (MI) 60 - DLC
Byrd (WV) 50
Inouye (Hawaii) 50
Murray (WA) 50
Reid (NV) 50
Rockefeller (WV) 50
Baucus (MN) 45 - DLC
Bingaman (NM) 40
Cantwell (WA) 40 - DLC
Johnson (SD) 40 - DLC
Kohl (WI) 40 - DLC
Conrad (ND) 35 - DLC
Feinstein (CA) 35
Carper (DE) 30 - DLC
Leiberman (CT) 30 - DLC
Landrieu (LA) 20 - DLC
Lincoln(ARK) 20 - DLC
Nelson (FL) 20 - DLC
Salazar (CO) 20 - DLC
Pryor (ARK) 15 - DLC
Nelson (NE) 0 - DLC

(some of the states are wrong...as are some DLC tags in this list...it was my first time)

Sory it is a kos diary...we didn't have journals on DU then.


By the way, each Senator has moved to the right on this scale (towards zero) by an average of 3% in the last 6 months.

[williesgirl]

13. Wow - lots of thought and work put into this. Thanks. Recommended

[wyldwolf]

15. When did Schumer join the DLC?

[xiamiam]

16. thank you..interesting to see it layed out like this...truly appreciate...nt

[progressoid]

17. Cool! My guy is at the top of the list!!

[Zodiak]

18. Your guy has been at the top of the list.....

for an entire year, ever since I started this work (I expected Boxer to be on top). Harkin is really a Senator to whom we should pay more attention.