Today, the 3rd edition of the lifetime vote ratings of all members of Congress. Today, it's the middle part of the House of Representatives. Again, my methodology: to get an idea of the ideological balance of Congress, I take the yearly vote ratings from two organzations: one liberal (Americans for Democratic Action, or the ADA) and one conservative (the American Conservative Union, or the ACU). I use these two for the sake of historical comparison: the ADA has taken vote ratings since the late 40s, and the ACU since 1971. That way, I can compare the ideology of today's members of Congress against those from past decades, all evaluated using the same rating methodology. It's also a good way to compare how a current member of Congress voted 2-3 decades ago vs. today.
I average the ratings from the ADA & ACU to come up with what I think is an appropriate average number of where a Senator or Representative is on a scale of 0-100, 0 being most conservative, 100 most liberal. These are lifetime ratings, updated with votes from 2007.
Here's where I got my figures:
ADA
ACU
You may ask why I don't incorporate other ratings, especially the well-known National Journal ratings. For one, it takes A LOT of time to do these averages; I'd include more ratings if I got paid to do it! Second, the National Journal ratings go back to the 1990s, so they're not as historically viable as the ADA & ACU (and, they seem to go behind a subscription firewall after awhile, so for non-subscription folks like me, they're somewhat inaccessible). Third, they seem to spread every members ratings evenly on a scale of 1-100; whereas the ADA & ACU determine simply how liberal or conservative a member is...thus, producing a more accurate view of where on the ideological scale a member of Congress is.
I'm splitting the house into 3 diaries. Yesterday I published the liberal end of the House, and I'll finish on Friday with the conservatives.
An interesting point: notice what happens to moderate and moderate-ish Republicans...or, in some cases, Republicans in big-time danger of losing their seats...once they vote on bills brought up for a vote in a Democratc-controlled House instead of a Republican-controlled House:
Member...Lifetime Rating...2007 Rating:
Gilchrest--34.7--62
Castle--40.7--65
Ferguson--23.9--48
LaTourette--27.2--51.5
LoBiondo--30.8--53
C. Smith--36.6--55.5
McHugh--23--42.5
Upton--24--42
Platts--22.1--40.5
LaHood--20.5--36.5
Saxton--25.3--40.5
Walsh--28.4--43
Moore Capito--24.8--39.5
Shays--54--67.5
Dent--33.3--46.5
Kirk--37--50
Ramstad--31.6--44.5
Reichert--34.5--46
Bono Mack--21.5--32.5
Tom Davis--24--35
Gerlach--33.1--44
Ros-Lehtinen--22.5--32.5
L. Diaz-Balart--22.9--32.5
As you can see, some members suddenly become a lot more moderate vote-wise than before the Dems took control of Congress. Like I've mentioned in previous diaries, this is almost certainly because Democratic leadership is bringing up votes on bills that some Republicans would have always favored, but never got to vote on when then the House was under GOP control. Meanwhile, the socially conservative "wedge" bills don't come up for a vote anymore. And, of course, the political climate does not favor Republicans, so many looking to keep their seat are going to vote the Democratic...and, nowadays, popular...way.
We also saw this happen with moderate-conservative Democrats, as almost all saw their numbers go up noticeably with no more of those wedge issues to vote on that they might have favored, and more bills being voted on that almost all Democrats of every ideology favor.
Also, this is not an absolute view of Congressional ideology: we are at the whims of what the ADA & ACU consider to be important votes.
By the way, here is yesterday's House diary and the previous day's Senate diary:
House: The Liberal End
Senate ratings
Here's the list of House members between an 80 and a 20:
Nick Lampson (D-TX)--79.3
Mike Doyle (D-PA)--79.2
Dan Lipinski (D-IL)--78.5
Chris Carney (D-PA)--78.5
Artur Davis (D-AL)--77.8
Bob Etheridge (D-NC)--77.7
Bart Stupak (D-MI)--77.6
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)--77.1
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)--77
Baron Hill (D-IN)--76.7
David Scott (D-GA)--76.6
Nick Rahall (D-WV)--76.3
Nancy Boyda (D-KS)--76
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)--76
Jane Harman (D-CA)--75.4
Jim Costa (D-CA)--74.7
Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)--73.7
John Spratt (D-SC)--73.4
Sanford Bishop (D-GA)--73.2
Melissa Bean (D-IL)--73.2
Ben Chandler (D-KY)--71.6
John Salazar (D-CO)--71.5
Leonard Boswell (D-IA)--71.3
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)--70.5
John Murtha (D-PA)--70.1
Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)--69.5
Bart Gordon (D-TN)--69
Jerry Costello (D-IL)--68.5
Heath Shuler (D-NC)--68
Chet Edwards (D-TX)--66.7
Jim Cooper (D-TN)--66.1
Alan Mollohan (D-WV)--66
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)--66
Allen Boyd (D-FL)--63.9
Marion Berry (D-AR)--63.2
Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)--63
Jim Matheson (D-UT)--62.8
Mike Ross (D-AR)--62.7
Henry Cuellar (D-TX)--59.1
John Barrow (D-GA)--58.3
John Tanner (D-TN)--55.9
Charlie Melancon (D-LA)--55.4
Collin Peterson (D-MN)--55
Tim Holden (D-PA)--54.5
Christopher Shays (R-CT)--54
Jim Marshall (D-GA)--53.5
Mike McIntyre (D-NC)--52.5
Lincoln Davis (D-TN)--51.2
Bud Cramer (D-AL)--50.2
Ike Skelton (D-MO)--49.5
Michael Castle (R-DE)--40.7
Dan Boren (D-OK)--39.5
Mark Kirk (R-IL)--37
Christopher Smith (R-NJ)--36.6
Gene Taylor (D-MS)--35.6
Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD)--34.7
Dave Reichert (R-WA)--34.5
Charlie Dent (R-PA)--33.3
Jim Gerlach (R-PA)--33.1
Jim Ramstad (R-MN)--31.6
Tim Johnson (R-IL)--31.1
Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)--30.8
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)--30.3
James Walsh (R-NY)--28.4
Judy Biggert (R-IL)--27.7
Steve LaTourette (R-OH)--27.2
Vern Buchanon (R-FL)--25.5
Ralph Regula (R-OH)--25.4
Jim Saxton (R-NJ)--25.3
Rodney Alexander (D/R-LA)--25.1
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)--24.8
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)--24.8
Tom Davis (R-VA)--24
Fred Upton (R-MI)--24
Michael Ferguson (R-NJ)--23.9
John McHugh (R-NY)--23
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)--22.9
Ron Paul (R-TX)--22.7
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)--22.5
Todd Platts (R-PA)--22.1
Phil English (R-PA)--21.8
Mary Bono Mack (R-CA)--21.5
Tom Petri (R-WI)--20.8
Ray LaHood (R-IL)--20.5
Gus Bilrakis (R-FL)--20