Hotline: "Shifts Happen" Hillary 32nd most liberal, Obama 10th most liberal, more left than Kucinich

[flpoljunkie]

Spotlight: Shifts Happen

Today's Hotline Spotlight:

No wonder Clinton and McCain face base rebellions; those voters feel abandoned. And judging from the National Journal's new composite scores of cong. vote ratings, they may have good reason. Not only are Clinton and McCain the most moderate members of cong. in the WH '08 race, but they've each made sharp swerves to the center at decisive points in the past few years.

-- Clinton, for example, once voted solidly with the left, ranking among the most liberal sens in '01 and '02. Since '04, she has moved notably to the right, esp on economic and foreign issues. While her lifetime average is still slightly left of Biden, she's now the 32nd most liberal; Obama is the 10th, even farther left than Kucinich (although the OHan's rating has surged since '98).

-- Same story for McCain, who ranked among the most conservative sens during his first 8 years. Starting with the GOP takeover in '95, however, and continuing through the Bush years, McCain has moved steadily to the middle (in '04, McCain, Chafee and Snowe were the most liberal GOPers). He now ranks as the 46th most conservative sen.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/03/spotlight_shift.html

[AJH032]

1. 32nd in Senate, or all of Congress?

Seems since they're comparing senators to house reps (clinton/obama to kucinich) that they're ranking all of Congress. 32 is pretty high if that's the case.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Here is the link and partial listing to the National Journal rankings for Senators...

http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/sen/lib_cons.htm?o1=lib_composite&o2=desc

How To Read These Ratings

A score of 78 on the liberal scale, for example, means that the senator was more liberal than 78 percent of his or her Senate colleagues on key votes during 2006. "N/A" means the member missed more than half of the rated votes. "*" denotes members who are no longer in the Senate. In the event of a tie, scores are ordered alphabetically first by state delegation, then by individual members' names.

You are viewing this table sorted by composite liberal scores.


Durbin, Richard, D-Ill. 95.2
Boxer, Barbara, D-Calif. 95
Kennedy, Edward, D-Mass. 93.7
Leahy, Patrick, D-Vt. 92.5
Reed, Jack, D-R.I. 91.3
Sarbanes, Paul, D-Md. * 89.7
Murray, Patty, D-Wash. 89.3
Mikulski, Barbara, D-Md. 88.8
Obama, Barack, D-Ill. 86
Wyden, Ron, D-Ore. 86
Kerry, John, D-Mass. 85.7
Bingaman, Jeff, D-N.M. 85.5
Levin, Carl, D-Mich. 85.3
Feingold, Russell, D-Wis. 84.5
Lautenberg, Frank, D-N.J. 84.3
Dodd, Christopher, D-Conn. 84
Akaka, Daniel, D-Hawaii 83.5
Menendez, Robert, D-N.J. 82.7
Jeffords, James, I-Vt. * 82.5
Dayton, Mark, D-Minn. * 81
Cantwell, Maria, D-Wash. 79.7
Reid, Harry, D-Nev. 78.2
Biden, Joseph, D-Del. 77.5
Feinstein, Dianne, D-Calif. 76.5
Schumer, Charles, D-N.Y. 74.5
Dorgan, Byron, D-N.D. 74.3
Bayh, Evan, D-Ind. 73.3
Inouye, Daniel, D-Hawaii 71.8
Kohl, Herb, D-Wis. 71
Byrd, Robert, D-W.Va. 70.5
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, D-N.Y. 70.2
Johnson, Tim, D-S.D. 69.2
Stabenow, Debbie, D-Mich. 68
Salazar, Ken, D-Colo. 67.8
Lieberman, Joe, ID-Conn. 67.5

[NDP]

2. Who defines what left is?

[Hippo_Tron]

3. The national journal has no credibility, they said Kerry was the "most liberal"

Which was based on his 2003 voting record where he showed up for like 2 votes because he was running for President.