Like many advocacy groups, the
Council for a Livable World, an antiwar advocacy group, scores Congressmen on selected votes important to them. They recently published their
2001-2004 Voting Record for all 100 current Senators. (The usual caveat applies: because only 12 votes are considered, these scorecards can be manipulated to make certain officeholders look good or bad. I don't think CLW has tried to do this, but it's something to keep in mind.)
Like most groups who do this, CLW penalizes officeholders for absenteeism: missed votes count the same as a vote against the group's position. Because some Senators missed several votes due to campaigning for President, I've "corrected" the scores so they don't get unfairly penalized for their absenteeism.
For instance, CLW listed Kerry's score as 33%; my "corrected" score for Kerry is 75%. My corrections and methodology are below the "There's More" link.
CLW lists the following codes for votes:
+ Supported CLW position
- Opposed CLW position
A Absent
N Not in office
# Absent, but announced in favor of CLW position
^ Absent, but announced against CLW position
CLW's score is computed by dividing the number of + votes by the number of all vote types except N. My "corrected" scores are computed by dividing the number of + and # votes by the number of all vote types except N and A. Most scores are unchanged, but here are those which did change:
Senator | CLW score | Corrected score |
Lieberman (D-CT) | 33% | 36% |
Graham (D-FL) | 50% | 85% |
Inouye (D-HI) | 83% | 91% |
Kerry (D-MA) | 33% | 75% |
Edwards (D-NC) | 67% | 75% |
Leahy (D-VT) | 83% | 92% |
Jeffords (I-VT) | 75% | 82% |
Since my scoring method is more generous, my scores are always higher than CLW's. (Inouye, Leahy, and Jeffords didn't run for President, obviously. In their cases, you'll have to decide whether to use CLW's scores or mine.)
For the curious: Kerry voted with or supported CLW's position in six out of eight votes. The two votes he disagreed with them on were:
- A pre-9/11 vote on increasing military spending, and
- The 2002 vote giving Bush authority to use force in Iraq.
48 of the 51 Republicans, as well as one Democratic Zell-out, received zeros from CLW. The remaining three Republicans were Snowe (ME) and Gregg (NH), with scores of 8%, and Chafee (RI) with a score of 33%. Aside from Zell-out, the worst-scoring Democrats were Bayh (IN), with 25%; Nelson (NE), who tied Chafee with 33%; and Lieberman (CT), with 36%. As a result of this low-scoring bloc of 55 Senators, CLW
lost every vote considered for this scorecard. 2005-06 isn't looking too good either, even if Democrats retake the Senate. (I know a primary challenge to Lieberman is a long shot, but CT is a pretty blue state; is there anyone even considering it?)
Nine Democrats scored a perfect 100%, and ten more (if Leahy is included) scored 92%.