Your most favorite US Senator

[usregimechange]

I will have to leave some out but am including those Senators who seem (to me) to enjoy the most support from DU and progressives in general. If I have included or left out some that you disagree with use the other category.

[Faygo Kid]

1. Where's Sen. Levin?

He has always been my favorite, along with Ted Kennedy. For at least the last 20 years.

[Motown_Johnny]

12. +1

[Barack_America]

17. +2 nt

[handmade34]

2. Leahy and Sanders have been my senators for years

Thank you Vermont for electing them.

[SmileyRose]

3. Kennedy

sorry, it doesn't matter that he's moved to the great beyond. Still my favorite and will be for a very long time.

[graywarrior]

5. Same here.

[ccharles000]

4. I'm going to say Leahy but I really like Franken.

[rosesaylavee]

6. Other: Senator Durbin.

[nevergiveup]

21. Agree , Dick Durbin

[Hepburn]

7. Edward Moore Kennedy....

...RIP, Ted...:cry:

[Graybeard]

8. Sen Sherrod Brown - Ohio

Speaks for the working people and staunch defender of unions and the need to organize for strength.

[Ian David]

9. Barbara Boxer, ALONE in The Senate, stood to contest the stolen election of 2004.

Nobody else will ever have my full trust and support, not even Bernie Sanders.

[Laelth]

10. That is extremely significant, I admit. Thanks for the reminder.

I still voted for Senator Sanders.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Creena]

11. I'm proud to call her my senator!

Feinstein...not so much sometimes. I'm not saying she's awful or anything. Just that I disagree with her positions and tactics.

[inna]

13. i voted Sanders too, but.... now i wish i could re-vote, or at least vote for both of them

[omega minimo]

19. Tie breaker: Thank you Senator Boxer. Also love Feingold for similar courage and Sanders' message

[rwheeler31]

14. Damn I like all these guys.

[dflprincess]

15. Sanders

though it was hard not to vote for Boxer or Feingold. Franken just hasn't been there long enough and his health insurance positions are not impressive.

[chknltl]

16. An Independent leads in the 'Democratic' Underground

Maybe one of the other Senators could spend an hour every Friday answering call-in questions on the Ed Schultz radio show. (referencing the fact that Thom Hartmann has the 'Lunch With Bernie' hour every Friday where Senator Sanders fields called in questions.)

[t0dd]

18. That's a really sweet picture you have there. nt

[Common Sense Party]

22. A self-described democratic socialist is running away with it!

No one else comes close.

From Wikipedia:

Senator Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist. He is a staunch supporter of a single-payer universal health care system. He is the leading voice in the Senate for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and a strong opponent of the United States current trade policy towards Latin America and China. Sanders has opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq from its start and voted against it in the House of Representatives. He has called for a speedy withdrawal and increased veterans benefits. Sanders, a journalist, has also been a leader in calling for Media reform and opposes increased concentration of media outlets. He appeared in Orwell Rolls in His Grave and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, two leading documentaries on the subject. He warns about the dangers of Global Warming and supports clean energy. Sanders has joined Representative Ron Paul in defense of civil liberties from Government encroachment. He has also joined Rep. Paul in calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve, and has introduced a Senate companion bill to Ron Paul's H.R. 1207.

[chknltl]

25. Which are some of the reason's we love Bernie Sanders!

I agree with you Common Sense Party, nobody else comes close! We also love his desire to get his thoughts out to as many American's as possible. I am signed up for his weekly newsletter, this week's included this:

Issue September 04, 2009 - http://sanders.senate.gov

Senator Sanders is deeply concerned that we appear to be getting pulled into another quagmire from which we don’t know how to exit – this time, in Afghanistan. Without the kind of national debate this country needs, we are sending in more and more troops and spending more and more money on this war. This is an issue about which we need a lot more clarity and a lot more debate. Watch this week’s “Senator Sanders Unfiltered” episode here. Submit your own video query on any subject here. Get a reminder about every Thursday’s video on the Brave New Films’ Twitter page or the senator’s Facebook page.

Watch this week’s Unfiltered episode on Afghanistan.

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/events/event/?id=78cfbd87-0513-43b3-8167-fa92ddb52da7

[Common Sense Party]

30. I didn't know about his newsletter. Thanks for the tip!

;-)

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Bernie Sanders is more or less a Democrat

He's not an official party member but it's understood both in the Senate, with the DNC, and the Vermont Democratic Party, that he is a member of the Democratic coalition. It's basically akin to how several parties form governing coalitions in parliamentary systems.

[chknltl]

34. I knew he caucused with them but...

I also knew that he regularly runs against Dems so I figured him to be more an Indi than a Dem. He does seem more of Democrat than anything else-(especially when compared to Senator lieberman.) I was unaware of those arrangements Senator Sanders had with the DNC and the Vermont Dem Party-good on him and good for us! Maybe I'm just a closet socialist but truth be told I like to think of Bernie Sanders as being the Democrat that other Democrats should be more like.

[Hippo_Tron]

38. If this were Europe, Bernie would be center-left

Unfortunately it's not Europe and this country is entirely too right wing, so there you go. And I know for certain that Democrats both locally and nationally backed him for the Senate in 2006. I'm not sure if that has always been the case before that but the guy wins with 70+% of the vote so it would be futile for the Democrats not to include him.

[beac]

20. My vote went to Whitehouse, but I am also very proud of my own home-state Senator Webb. n/t

[WeDidIt]

23. Bernie is the man

HE's beholden to nobody but the people of Vermont.

[saltpoint]

24. There's a lot to like in all of those. You packed your poll with some

very fine folks.

I voted for John Kerry. I like the perceptive brainy big-picture work he's done for some decades and feel that much is owed to his hard work, often work behind the stage, to make many good things happen for others.

Of the folks in your poll and several of the 'Other' Senators, it would be my great pleasure to school the next freeper who badmouths our good Democrats. I think a very strong case could be made about everybody in your poll and several of the 'Other' Senators.

[chknltl]

26. May I have permission to forward this poll to Thom Hartmann?

Thomm may find this Poll interesting. Although we have only a small slice of the DU represented here, it indicates that Senator Sanders is getting a message out, a message that progressives are strongly in favor of. (BTW for those who didn't already know it, Thom Hartmann is a recently signed up fellow DUer.)

[Parker CA]

27. Boxer!!

[RidinMyDonkey]

28. I may be bias, since you've got my senator up there.

I picked Senator Franken, my second choice would be Senator Barbara Boxer.

[Libertas1776]

29. I really

like the two senators from Vermont, Sanders and Leahy.
Leahy even faced down the joker in TDK, how can ya beat that?


But I still had to go with Franken.

[Vinca]

31. I've adopted Bernie as my senator. I really love the guy.

[LWolf]

32. Sanders and Boxer. nt

[Raine]

35. My Senator ... Barbara Boxer nt

[chknltl]

36. a lil kick for more votes. eom

[UTUSN]

37. Populist/HARKIN. n/t

[David Zephyr]

39. Voted for Boxer because she's my Senator and a great one, but Bernie also has my heart.

Boxer, Sanders, Feingold, Kerry...we do have a number of Senators that I respect. I wish we had more.

But, I'm a Californian and I'm crazy about Senator Boxer. I truly proud of her.

If I could meet two Senators, it would be Boxer and Sanders (I have met and had a lunch with Feinstein in the '90's and she has really been an over all let down to me.)

[wackadoo wabbit]

40. While Sanders is great, Boxer was the one

who stood up with members of the House in 2004 to protest voting irregularities in Ohio. She was the only Senator willing to sign the House challenge to the Ohio vote.

This was not a politically safe thing to do, but she did it anyway.

I’m surprised at her relatively low vote in this poll.