Congressional Quarterly has released its annual rankings of federal legislators in terms of party loyalty and support for President George W. Bush’s policies. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (pictured), finishing up her second year at the Capitol, voted with her party 94 percent of the time in 2008, while siding with the president on less than a third of her votes. Sen. Norm Coleman, who was a staunch party loyalist early in his term, has moved steadily towards the center in recent years. In 2008 he voted with the GOP 69 percent of the time, while backing the president on 58 percent of votes.

On the House side, the partisan lines are even more clearly drawn. Three members of Minnesota’s delegation (Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and Jim Oberstar) sided with their party on 99 percent of votes. Fellow DFLer Colin Peterson voted with the Democrats 91 percent of the time.

Republicans were only slight more likely to cross the party brass, with Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachmann backing GOP policies more than 95 percent of the time in 2008. They also sided with the president on roughly three quarters of their votes. Retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad was the most likely Minnesota House member to eschew party doctrine. He voted with the GOP 70 percent of the time, while siding with the Bush on fewer than half his votes.