Based on the very scientific standard of my subjective opinion.
1. Vermont – Leahy (D) & Sanders (I)
2. Rhode Island – Reed (D) & Whitehouse (D)
3. Minnesota – Klobuchar (D) & Franken (D)
4. Oregon – Wyden (D) & Merkley (D)
5. Massachusetts – Kennedy (D) & Kerry (D)
6. Virginia – Webb (D) & Warner (D)
7. Wisconsin – Kohl (D) & Feingold (D)
8. New York – Schumer (D) & Gillibrand (D)
9. Maryland – Mikulski (D) & Cardin (D)
10. North Dakota – Conrad (D) & Dorgan (D)
11. New Mexico – Bingaman (D) & T. Udall (D)
12. Colorado – M. Udall (D) & Bennet (D)
13. California – Boxer (D) & Feinstein (D)
14. N. Jersey – Lautenberg (D) & Menendez (D)
15. Hawaii – Inouye (D) & Akaka (D)
16. Washington – Murray (D) & Cantwell (D)
17. Iowa – Harkin (D) & Grassley (R)
18. Montana – Baucus (D) & Tester (D)
19. Delaware – Carper (D) & Kaufman (D)
20. Michigan – Levin (D) & Stabenow (D)
21. W. Virginia – Byrd (D) & Rockefeller (D)
22. Ohio – Brown (D) & Voinovich (R)
23. Missouri – McCaskill (D) & Bond (R)
24. Illinois – Durbin (D) & Burris (D)
25. Arkansas – Pryor (D) & Lincoln (D)
26. Alaska – Begich (D) & Murkowski (R)
27. New Hampshire – Shaheen (D) & Gregg (R)
28. Pennsylvania – Casey (D) & Specter (R)
29. South Dakota – Johnson (D) & Thune (R)
30. Connecticut – Dodd (D) & Lieberman (I)
31. Maine – Snow (R) & Collins (R)
32. Indiana – Bayh (D) & Lugar (R)
33. Nebraska – Ben Nelson (D) & Johanns (R)
34. Nevada – Reid (D) & Ensign (R)
35. North Carolina – Hagan (D) & Burr (R)
36. Florida – Bill Nelson (D) & Martinez (R)
37. Tennessee – Alexander (R) & Corker (R)
38. Louisiana – Landrieu (D) & Vitter (R)
39. South Carolina – Graham (R) & DeMint (R)
40. Mississippi – Cochran (R) & Wicker (R)
41. Idaho – Crapo (R) & Risch (R)
42. Georgia – Isakson (R) & Chambliss (R)
43. Arizona – McCain (R) & Kyl (R)
44. Texas – Hutchison (R) & Cornyn (R)
45. Wyoming – Enzi (R) & Barrasso (R)
46. Utah – Hatch (R) & Bennett (R)
47. Kansas – Roberts (R) & Brownback (R)
48. Alabama – Shelby (R) & Sessions (R)
49. Kentucky – McConnell (R) & Bunning (R)
50. Oklahoma – Coburn (R) & Inhofe (R)
couple problems with your list though… First, Iowa and ND are waaay too high. Even though Harkin is great Grassley is in no way a moderate republican. To a lesser extent, NY (moderate dem and conservative dem) and Virginia (2 moderates) are too high as is Missouri(how are they above Illinois).
Meanwhile, Connecticut, much as I dislike Dodd and obviously hate Lieberman, should be bumped around 10 spots. Again, much as I hate Burris, Illinois also deserves do be about 10 spots higher while Washington and Michigan should be about 7 spots higher. How is ND 5 spots above Washington?
I agree with most of the final 20 spots, though I would put Utah and Alabama above Idaho at 41/42.
Is looking at the extremes. I would say Vermont is far and away our best delegation and Oklahoma is obviously the worst (it’s kinda frightening how bad that delegation is… I would say the have 2 of the 3 worst senators with Vitter sandwiched between coburn and inhofe).
Consider that Vermont, until Leahy, had never once had a democratic senator. Until this decade, they’ve never been a straight D delegation and in the entire history of the state, they’ve elected 2 democrats as a senator (counting sanders, but not counting jeffords because I don’t think he was ever elected as a dem).
Meanwhile, state politics in Oklahoma had traditionally been dominated by Democrats, and I think democrats may still hold a registration edge in the state. As recently as 1987 the house delegation was 5-1 dem.
Kaufman is a nobody placeholder, and the only Democrats worse than Carper are Lincoln, Bayh, and Nelson.
We don’t know what Franken is like yet at all, and Klobuchar is WAY too moderate for a state like MN.
I love the Oregon delegation though.
I think you have Georgia too high and Utah too low. Chambliss earns extra bad guy points for his campaign against Cleland. Considering how red Utah is, Bennett and Hatch are not that bad and I can’t remember either ever doing anything reprehensible. I might also move Texas down the list a little, as I really dislike Cornyn. Oklahoma has a lock on 50.
Which state has the biggest disparity in quality between it’s two Senators? I think that North Carolina (Hagan vs. Burr) and South Dakota (Johnson vs. Thune) would take the cake.
Just for fun, and using my own completely subjective criteria, which seems at least somewhat aligned with yours:
1. Cornyn
2. Inhofe
3. Chambliss
4. Vitter
5. McConnell
6. Ensign
7. DeMint
8. Thune
9. Kyl
10. Sessions
11. Bunning
12. Shelby
13. Coburn
14. Gregg
15. Alexander
16. Cochran
17. Bond
18. Corker
19. Burr
20. Risch
21. Crapo
22. Enzi
23. Barrasso
24. Roberts
25. Wicker
26. Isaaakson
27. Johanns
28. Brownback
29. Hatch
30. McCain
31. Graham
32. Martinez
33. Bennett
34. Murkowski
35. Voinovich
36. Hutchison
37. Specter
38. Collins
39. Grassley
40. Lugar
41. Snowe
1. Coburn
2. Vitter
3. Inhofe
4. DeMint
5. Chambliss
6. Kyl
7. McConnell
8. Cornyn
9. Ensign
10. Brownback
11. Enzi
12. Risch
13. Thune
14. Crapo
15. Barrasso
16. Isaaakson
17. McCain
18. Roberts
19. Johanns
20. Sessions
21. Bunning
22. Shelby
23. Burr
24. Gregg
25. Cochran
26. Wicker
27. Corker
28. Graham
29. Grassley
30. Alexander
31. Bond
32. Bennett
33. Martinez
34. Hutchison
35. Hatch
36. Lugar
37. Murkowski
38. Voinovich
39. Specter
40. Collins
41. Snowe
from best to worst obviously:
1. Sanders
2. Franken
3. Whitehouse
4. Reed
5. Kennedy
6. Leahy,
7. Merkley
8. Feingold
9. Harkin,
10. Wyden
11. Durbin
12. Brown
13. Kerry
14. Kohl
15. Stabenow
16. Akaka
17. Murray
18. Cantwell
19. Mikulski
20. Shaheen
21. Boxer
22. Warner
23. Klobuchar
24. Feinstein
25. Bingaman
26. Lautenberg
27. Conrad
28. Menéndez
29. Dorgan
30. Inouye
31. Udall (NM)
32. Dodd
33. Schumer
34. Gillibrand
35. Udall (CO)
36. Levin
37. Kaufman
38. Burris
39. Webb
40. Casey
41. Tester
42. Reid
43. Johnson
44. Bennett
45. Begich
46. Hagan
47. McCaskill
48. Carper
49. Baucus
50. Pryor
51. Lincoln
52. Landrieu
53. Nelson (FL)
54. Rockefeller
55. Byrd
56. Nelson (NE)
57. Lieberman
58. Bayh
missing someone, bonus points to whoever points out who it is
also, bonus points to whoever does this for the house
It is Mark Udall and Bennett- Ken Salazar is now sec of Interior
Udall will certainly be a more progressive Senator than Salazar was, so it remains to be seen if Bennett will be able to pull Colorado’s ranking a bit higher.
And, as Vermonter, I absolutely echo your choice of Leahy and Sanders as the best combo..
He’s not even Senator-elect yet.
Should be much higher. Menendez (10th) and Lautenberg (16th) are only clearly surpassed by two state duos on Progressive Punch for lifetime scores: RI (Whitehouse , 6th and Reed, 7th) and IL (Burris, 2nd and Durbin, 14th). They were confortably in the top mten once the newbies had established voting records last session and should return to that perch.
IL belongs in the top ten. Durbin not only votes well but is a major leader for progressive causes in the Senate. Burris at least votes right.
Bayh is worse than Lugar. He not only undermines he leads the charge. In my mind, he’s a bpttom 20 Srnator.
Your list is pretty solid. Obviously I would switch a few of them around regardless of whether the context is ideology or performance. I think it’s too early to assume Franken will be the reincarnation of Paul Wellstone as many seem to expect. I actually think he’ll vote like a moderate given his lack of clear mandate from voters.
I’d place North Dakota several positions higher, largely because their Senators are as progressive as they are even from this crimson red state. While Conrad’s taking some deserved heat for his confusing obstruction of Obama’s budget proposals, I still like him alot and like Dorgan even more. Dorgan may be my favorite Senator right now even though he got the war in Iraq wrong. Alternatively, I think South Dakota’s too high as Johnson is only okay while Thune is awful. I’d put North Carolina and Florida ahead of SD.
McCaskill has been becoming more impressive all the time and could see the Missouri delegation rising in impressiveness in the next year and a half even with Bond as an anchor. As others have pointed out, I’d switch Utah at Texas but otherwise agree with your bottom five. Oklahoma owns the 50th position.
per optimal classification based on the last congress
MA Kennedy (5) + Kerry (7) = 12
RI Whitehose (6) + Reed (11.5) = 17.5
VT Sanders (2) + Leahy (19) = 21
NJ Menendez (11) + Lautenberg (13.5) = 24.5
IL Obama (13.5) + Durbin (15) = 28.5
WI Feingold (1) + Kohl (30) = 31
NY Schumer (16) + Clinton (18) = 34
CA Boxer (4) + Feinstein (31) = 35
CT Dodd (3) + Lieberman (34.5) = 37.5
WV Byrd (8) + Rockefeller (38) = 46
MI Stabenow (21) + Levin (27.5) = 48.5
WA Cantwell (24) + Murray (25) = 49
HI Akaka (23) + Inouye (27) = 50
OH Brown (9) + Voinovich (58) = 57
DE Biden (10) + Carper (48) = 58
MD Cardin (29) + Mikulski (33) = 62
MN Klobuchar (20) + Coleman (55) = 75
OR Wyden (25) + Smith (54) = 79
ND Conrad (39) + Dorgan (40) = 79
IA Harkin (17) + Grassley (63) = 80
MT Baucus (42.5) + Tester (42.5) = 85
NM Bingaman (27.5) + Domenici (62) = 89.5
PA Casey (36) + Specter (56) = 92
AR Lincoln (45) + Pryor (47) = 92
VA Webb (37) + Warner (61) = 98
ME Snowe (52) + Collins (53) = 105
NE Nelson (50) + Hagel (56) = 106
IN Bayh (51) + Lugar (57) = 108
MO McCaskill (41) + Bond (70) = 111
NV Reid (19) + Ensign (98) = 117
AK Murkowski (59) + Stevens (60) = 119
SD Johnson (46) + Thune (79) = 125
UT Hatch (65) + Bennett (68) = 133
FL Nelson (34.5) + Martinez (69) = 133.5
CO Salazar (44) + Allard (93) = 136
MS Cochran (67) + Bond (70) = 137
LA Landrieu (49) + Vitter (91) = 140
KS Roberts (64) + Brownback (78) = 142
TN Alexander (71) + Corker (72) = 143
NH Sununu (75) + Gregg (86) = 161
GA Chambliss (80) + Isakson (81) = 161
TX Hutchison (73) + Cornyn (89) = 162
AL Shelby (76) + Sessions (87) = 163
ID Craig (82) + Crapo (83) = 165
NC Dole (77) + Burr (95) = 172
KY McConnell (85) + Bunning (92) = 177
AZ McCain (90) + Kyl (99) = 189
SC Graham (88) + Demint (102) = 190
WY Enzi (96) + Barasso (97) = 193
OK Inhofe (100) + Coburn (101) = 202
There are more than 100 because of replacements mid-term
Obviously some changes in the current senate. I fear my own NY will drop a bit