Minnesota Independent » Congressional Quarterly

CQ ranks congressional voting records: How’d Minnesota do?

Andy Birkey — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:12:13 +0000

Capitol Hill (WDCpix)

Congressional Quarterly has compiled their annual Vote Study for congressional votes leading up to the July 4 break. Each year, CQ compiles records based on party unity, support for the president and percentage of votes missed during the session. Here’s how the Minnesota delegation stacked up.

Reps. Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar and Tim Walz were the “rubber stamps” for President Obama, supporting his initiatives 92 percent of the time. Rep. Keith Ellison followed, voting with the president 91 percent of the time.

Rep. Michele Bachmann was the ultimate “obstructionist,” only voting with Obama 10 percent of the time, beating out every member of the House except Republican Reps. J. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina at 10 percent and Jeff Flake of Arizona with only 5 percent. Rep. John Kline was on the low end, too, supporting President Obama only 20 percent of the time.

Rep. Erik Paulsen was exactly “moderate,” voting with the president on 50 percent of votes. Rep. Collin Peterson sided with the president 81 percent of the time.

Every member of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation had over a 90-percent party unity score except for Peterson, who came in at 88 percent.

Most of the delegation had a good record of showing up to vote on roll call votes, but Reps. Ellison and Bachmann dipped below the 90 percent mark. Both missed votes during the record-setting week of June 18 when more than a quarter of all votes this session were taken.

Ellison was attending his son’s graduation at CityView, an Americorps volunteer program, and missed votes that day, although he did try to make it back to vote.

Rick Jauert, Ellison’s spokesman, said, “His second son was graduating from CityYear that day in Miami and he thought he could get there and back without missing many votes. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have… He did not anticipate the Republicans playing politics with the schedule as they did for several days… calling for motions to rise, adjourn, reconsider, offering endless extraneous amendments.”

Bachmann was absent during two days when a record numbers of House votes were taken because she was spending time with her family following the death of her husband’s mother.

On the Senate side, Minnesota’s Sen. Amy Klobuchar voted with the president 97 percent of the time and with her party 88 percent of the time, and she made it to 98 percent of roll call votes taken.

CQ breaks down all 435 Congressional districts

Paul Demko — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:03:38 +0000

Congressional Quarterly has created a nifty interactive map detailing the results of the 2008 presidential contest in all 435 Congressional districts. Across the country, 34 House districts elected Republicans representatives, but also favored Barack Obama over John McCain. The only such district in Minnesota: the Third Congressional District, where Erik Paulsen defeated Ashwin Madia by a 49-41 percent margin, but Obama took the district by a 52-46 spread. The Second Congressional District also nearly makes the cut. Republican Rep. John Kline was re-elected by a solid 57-43 percent margin, while John McCain carried the district by a much narrower 50-48 spread.

Minnesota legislators seldom cross party lines

Paul Demko — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:58:28 +0000

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.

CQ Politics Ratings: Tinklenberg, Sarvi and Walz improve

Andy Birkey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:01:36 +0000

Congressional Quarterly released its election rankings for Senate and House races throughout the country, and it isn’t good news for Republicans. In all, 74 Democratic House candidates improved in CQ’s rankings compared to just nine for Republicans. In terms of Senate races, Democrats’ chances improved in 14 races compared to just two for Republicans.

In Minnesota, Democratic Rep. Tim Walz of the 1st Congressional District is favored to win his race against Republican Brian Davis with CQ moving the race from Leans Democratic to Democrat Favored.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Iraq veteran and Democrat Steve Sarvi improved against Republican Rep. John Kline as CQ changed the race from Republican Favored to Leans Republican.

The flap over Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “anti-America” comments on Hardball less than two weeks ago appear to have influenced CQ’s ranking for the 6th Congressional District. The ranking jumped from Republican Favored to No Clear Favorite, putting Democratic candidate El Tinklenberg at an even shot to win the district.

Minnesota 1: Tim Walz , D
One year ago: Leans Democratic
Six months ago: Leans Democratic
Today: Democrat Favored

Minnesota 2: John Kline , R
One year ago: Safe Republican
Six months ago: Safe Republican
Today: Republican Favored

Minnesota 6: Michele Bachmann , R
One year ago: Republican Favored
Six months ago: Republican Favored
Today: No Clear Favorite

Chris Lehman on “moronic” campaign coverage

Paul Demko — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:59:30 +0000

Ken Silverstein has a wonderfully acerbic Q & A with Chris Lehman about campaign coverage over at Harper’s. A senior editor at Congressional Quarterly and co-editor of Bookforum, Lehman mercilessly skewers the media for its horse-race coverage and fabricated storylines. Here’s his take on the incessant VP speculation:

Imagine if you were covering the baseball playoffs and you wrote that there was massive speculation about who was going to win. It’s manifestly moronic because you’re writing about a scheduled event that is going to take place on a known timeline. You’re contributing nothing. It’s the opposite of news; any useful public information is entirely missing. But that’s the way the press bubble operates. Not only do reporters write about what they’re talking about, but they’re writing about each other. Notice the passive construction in these stories about “rampant speculation” and ask yourself, “Who’s doing the speculating?” It’s the reporters who are; most voters, being sane people, might think about it for a second but then they move on to the next thing in their day.

Yes, we’re guilty as charged. Read the whole thing.