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The National Journal has developed a great resource for figuring out where your congressional delegation stands on on the political spectrum, an interactive graphic that combines the scores of several rating groups, then ranks the honorables with their photos.
Rating systems aren’t new, of course, but this one is just more fun. It’s available by clicking here.
In it, we learn that the National Journal’s calculations place Patty Murray as the Senate’s most liberal member, based on last year’s votes. That puts her 17 slots ahead of Maria Cantwell, her fellow Washington Democrat, 76 ahead of Larry Craig, who was Idaho’s senior senator until he retired last year, and 79 ahead of Mike Crapo, also R-Idaho. Four Republicans — all westerners — tied for the ranking of most conservative in the Senate.
What about the House? Washington, of course, is a mixed bag. Idaho, not so much. . .
Cathy McMorris Rodgers is the 330th most liberal, which is to say the 97th most conservative. That puts her in the middle between Central Washington Republican Doc Hastings, who is 374 Liberal/52 Conservative, and East King County Republican Dave Reichert, at 247 Liberal/181 Conservative
Washington Democrats line up like this: Jim McDermott, 83L/344C (this will come as a HUGE surprise to West Side conservatives who think of McDermott as somewhere left of V. Lenin.); Jay Inslee 95L/332C; Rick Larsen128L/300C; Adam Smith 135L/293C; Norm Dicks 153L/274 C; and Brian Baird 175L/252C.
Idaho had the 13th most conservative or 414th most liberal House member in Republican Bill Sali, who lost his re-election campaign last November. Fellow Idaho Republican Mike Simpson was a bit closer to the middle of the GOP pack, coming in at 29 L/136C Twelve Democrats tied for the ranking of most liberal. Three Republicans tied for most conservative.
Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
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Arch_Druid on March 11 at 11:08 a.m.
First define “conservative,” then “liberal” since such definitions seem to be in a high degree of flux these days. No “conservative” is adverse to spending and the helping hand of gvt when he desires it. Not all “liberals” hold to the view that gvt can spend its way out of all our problems, ref. President Obama or that gvt can provide all the answers, again Obama. Try both claims of wings meeting in the middle of the bird as they shed in reality the “principles” they once claimed they needed to win elections on.
cantyoureadthesigns on March 11 at 11:37 a.m.
The National Journal’s rating system has been demonstrably shown to be full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies, even they’ve had to admit when they screwed up. It’s a political targeting tool, how else to explain their “most liberal” ratings of Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008.
jimc on March 12 at 4:11 p.m.
Arch_Druid: I don’t think the definitions are in flux so much as people misuse the terms so that the classical meanings are getting lost
Cantyoureadthesigns: It is true that all of these rating systems are biased and, to a certain extent, inconsistent. Congress takes thousands of votes, and every group — whether they are pro union or pro business, environmentalists or resource industries — cherry picks the votes they consider most important. The National Journal is no different, although they use one of the largest lists of votes, about 75 for the Senate and about 90 for the House. The Web site also has a link to each one of the votes, and each vote has a link to the bill, so a person can use his or her own judgment on whether they agree or disagree.
What it really provides, though, is a spectrum, and places each member on that spectrum, however imperfect.
And besides, the graphic is kind of fun.