Thursday, February 24, 2011

Only Arizona and Texas Share Title Of Having Most Conservative Member of House AND Senate

The National Journal today started releasing its analysis of how members of Congress voted in 2010.  Their initial focus is on how Arizona Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has moved from the middle of the ideological pack to be tied for the most conservative member of the Senate.  Not earth-shattering news, as his tack to the right in advance of his primary challenge from former Rep. Hayworth received lots of attention.

The National Journal - which analyzed about 1/3 of the Senate's roll call votes - found that this is McCain's most conservative ranking in his long history (only the conservative landslide year of 1994 was close - hmmm).

NJ also lists the ten most conservative members of the House of Representatives.  Arizona's Trent Franks (R-CD2) is tied for first in that house, giving Arizona the only 1-1 punch - other than Texas (Sen. Cornyn, Reps. Neugebauer and Johnson).

These rankings also confirm what Congressional Quarterly found last month, and the Washington Post has found on an on-going basis.  When the National Journal releases the rest of its rankings, it will probably also show that Arizona also was home to three of the biggest Democratic rebels. (Two of whom - Harry Mitchell and Ann Kirkpatrick - were defeated in November and one - Gabrielle Giffords - recovering from a would-be assassin's bullet.


(h/t to James King at Phoenix New Times)


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