Santa's List: Which Dem Senators are "Naughty" and "Nice"

[Zodiak]

Well, this is the second quarterly calculation of the "liberal" index for all of our Democratic Senators according to my "rubber meets the road" system. For those not familiar with the method, I found that ADA ratings are rather arbitrary and rarely concern issues that affect the American people directly. What's more is the ADA only puts out ratings once a year based on a backroom decision as to which 20 votes to count. In the end, ADA gave Boxer a lower rating than Feinstein in "progressivity".

So I went back and recalculated all of the Senators votes on partisan issues when it only comes to bill passage and appointment confirmations. I have been postng my numbers here on DU for a short while, but this post contains the full list as well as the methodology.

I do not ask that you take my scoring system as a "be all and end all" index. It is not. I did this for myself because there is so much rhetoric on DU concerning the DLC wars without any substance. Who are the DINO's? Who should be forgiven for the occasional tresspass in the interest of big business? These numbers should at least give you a guide, or better yet, inspire you to score them on your own.

So here are the numbers, decide for yourself:

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR LIBERAL INDEX
-------------------------------------------
Harkin (Iowa) 89.2
Boxer (California) 85.7
Lautenberg (New Jersey) 85.7
Akaka (Hawaii) 78.6
Durbin (Illinois) 78.6
Kennedy (Massacheusetts) 78.6
Kerry (Massacheusetts) - DLC 78.6
Corzine (New Jersey) 71.4
Dayton (Minnesota) 71.4
Feingold (Wisconsin) 71.4
Levin (Michigan) 71.4
Mikulski (Maryland) 71.4
Reed (Rhode Island) 71.4
Sarbanes (Maryland) 71.4
Obama (Illinois) 67.9
Dodd (Connecticut) - DLC 64.3
Leahy (Vermont) 64.3
Shumer (New York) 64.3
Wyden (Oregon) 64.3
Bayh (Indiana) - DLC 64.3
Biden (Deleware) 64.3
Clinton (New York) - DLC 60.7
Dorgan (North Dakota) - DLC 57.1
Stabenow (Michigan) - DLC 57.1
Inouye (Hawaii) 57.1
Reid (Nevada) 57.1
Byrd (West Virginia) 50
Murray (Washington) 50
Rockefeller (West Virgnia) 50
Bingaman (New Mexico) 42.9
Cantwell (Washington) - DLC 42.9
Johnson (South Dakota) - DLC 42.9
Kohl (Wisconsin) - DLC 42.9
Baucus (Montana) - DLC 39.3
Conrad (North Dakota) - DLC 39.3
Feinstein (California) 39.3
Leiberman (Connecticut) - DLC 35.7
Carper (Deleware) - DLC 28.6
Lincoln (Arkansas) - DLC 21.4
Nelson (Florida) - DLC 21.4
Salazar (Colorado) - DLC 21.4
Pryor (Arkansas) - DLC 17.9
Landrieu (Louisianna) - DLC 14.3
Nelson (Nebraska) - DLC 0.0


These scores are all percentages of a total possible score of 140 (so far, in this session, there have been 14 controversial bills and confirmations). A senator gets a score of "10" for voting against Bush's agenda on an issue, a "5" for abstaining, and a "0" for voting with the Republicans.

Here are the fourteen issues:

1. Rice confirmation (inept) 2.7
2. Gonzales confirmation (torturer) 8.3
3. Class action lawsuit bill 5.91
4. Bankruptcy bill 5.7
5. Negroponte confirmation (criminal and murderer) (0.5)
6. Cheney's Energy Bill (1.6)
7. CAFTA I (7.8)
8. CAFTA II (two votes for it (votes changed), + important issue) (7.5)
9. Election Reform (object to Ohio vote, 5 pts for speaking out, 10 for voting with a conscious) (0.6)
10. Confirmation of radical RW judges (0 pts for voting for one of the three judges, 5 pts for being one of the 7 senators in the compromise, -10 pts for voting for TWO of these judges) (8.5)
11. Firearm manufacturer immunity from legal liability (6.7)
12. Cutting Medicaid (6.7)
13. More tax cuts for the rich (9.4)
14. Roberts Confirmation (5)

The number that follows the issue is an indication of how much the Democratic Senate as a whole agrees with liberal bloggers, basically. A 10 is total Democratic unity. A lower number indicates disunity.

I flagged the DLC members because it clearly shows that there are a few DLCers who are "okay", but the majority of them are the worst betrayers of the party.

Speaking of which, here are how the Republicans score. These are ALL of the defections on the Republican side, according to my system.

chafee 40/140 = 28.5%
snowe 30/140 = 21.4%
deWine 30/140 = 21.4%
voinovich 20/140 = 14.4%
sununu 20/140 = 14.4%
colins 20/140 = 14.4%
craig 20/140 = 14.4%
kyl 10/140 = 7.3%
mccain 10/140 = 7.3%
martinez 10/140 = 7.3%
gregg 10/140 = 7.3%
burr 10/140 = 7.3%
Murkowski 10/140 = 7.3%
frist 10/140 = 7.3%
hagel 10/140 = 7.3%

I did not give Repukes credit for abstaining....these are all true defections, but they serve to compare the Democratic scores.

So everyone enjoy the numbers and decide who the DINOs are, if any. At least this way we can easily define what a DINO is by setting a standard, not deciding issue-by-issue.

So Lincoln Chafee would make a better Democratic Senator than 6 of ours. Interesting.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Its bad when your Dem Senators have lower scores than

some of the Repukes. Lincoln is slightly better than Pryor-at least she answers emails, and her aides are at least polite when you call. Pryor doesn't always answer, and his aides are rude. I'm sorry, but it doesn't cost a thing to be polite.

[Mass]

2. Nicely done. I will copy that somewhere.

However, I am not sure how you arrive at your totals. For example, I dont see how Harkin does not have a nearly perfect score on those bills you list.

[Zodiak]

3. Well...

There are plenty of issues I would like to pick out because they are votes of conscience, but I started this method without any preconceived notions other than my methodology. If the resolution is legally binding and affected things, then it should be on my list, but if it is not, then I have to leave it off of the list. It is an objective thing.

I checked Wagner-Levine, and I think that it was a vote of conscious, but it was a resolution, so it is not legally-binding. I can't count it, even though I can see why another researcher would.

Thanks for the suggestions....I really do want to find a method that can be generally agreed upon to be "fair". Unlike ADA, you can change my method simply by convincing me that your addendum would be useful. I am open to suggestions.

[Mass]

5. Sorry, I changed my comment afterwards.

I like what you did and I dont think the votes concerning Iraq in the Defense Bill would have changec your list.

The Levine and Warner (not Wagner, I must be tired) amendments were two amendments asking Bush accountability on Iraq during the Defense Bill. The Democratic bill was asking for more info and a handful of democrats voted against it. Among them, all but one voted for the Wagner amendment, that was asking for a lot less, not surprisingly. A few Democrats voted for Levine, but not for Wagner, because it was not strong enough.


Roll call for the Warner amendment.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00323


Roll call for the Levine amendment.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00322

[Zodiak]

7. hahaha...and so did I

thanks again, Mass. Perhaps in the future we can arrive at a method consensus, but I still feel strongly that we should trash the ADA. The scores for ADA are misleading.

100% rating for Feinstein 95% for Boxer
77% rating for Leiberman...I know he isn't the WORST, but that number makes him look like an "occasional" offender, which he is not.

[AX10]

4. noted.

[blm]

6. You should add a 10 to any Senator who signed the DSM letter of inquiry.

.

[Zodiak]

8. This would defy my methdology

By including something that had no direct affect on the American people.

I think that such a signing is a courageous act that speaks volumes about the conscience of the Senator, but it is a metric that I wanted to be beyond the scope of this study. My reasoning is that any Senator could try to endear themselves to the base with lip service and empty gestures, and I wanted to control for that.

However, I should perhaps keep a "vote of conscience" list, as well? I would be willing to do so and score it along with the original numbers here, provided that us "lefties" can arrive at a reasonable consensus (admittedly heavily influenced by my own opinion, since I'm doing the work).

[karynnj]

14. I think signing the letter would have a direct impact on the Americans

The letter was written to make public that the Republicans were renigging on their promise to investigate if the Bush administration manipulated the intelligence to get us into war. This is directly related to whether the legislative branch is a co-equal branch of government and was part of the reason there wasn't a greater outcry in March when Bush invaded. The earlier lies prepared the press and people for the war.

This issue relates direcly to our democracy. What bothers me is that so many Democrats refused to sign.

Where it differs from the others is that it is not a vote. But, the reason Senator Kerry used a letter to the committee was that it was the correct way to procede. It did result in Kerry being able to post on his Senate website the Roberts reply - that it wasn't necessary - after Roberts whined that Reid's taking the Senate behind closed doors was unnecessary as they were nearly done with it. (which they weren't)

I agree with BLM that the Senators who signed should get extra credit as I'm sure their names were noted by the Bushies. I'm especially impressed by Senator Johnson, who signed this because it takes more guts for someone from (SD ?) than for say Senator Kennedy. (Kennedy still gets his 10 points. (I think Harkin (IA) signed it too.)

Should have said up front - this is a very interesting analysis. Thank you for posting it.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. Very interesting.

My Senator (Bill Nelson) certainly qualifies as a DINO, which doesn't surprise me at all. But what choice do we have? Hopefully as bush sinks himself it will embolden some of these DINOS to vote more often in our favor.

Thanks for the list. Nice compilation.

[Zodiak]

10. you're welcome

I'm just a schmuck sitting at home while ranting about politics, but I am also a scientist who cannot help but to score things. Thank yu for taking the time to comment.

[Zodiak]

11. shameless kick n/t

[Zodiak]

12. 2nd kick

throw me a friggin bone, people!

[Zodiak]

13. blap n/t