Interesting results from CQ Politic's CQ Vote Studies: 2009

Congressional Quarterly has analyzed the roll call voting patterns of members of Congress since 1953. The three principal studies involve:

* The frequency with which lawmakers vote with the president when he clearly indicates his preferences (Presidential Support).
* The frequency with which they vote with their party, on occasions when a majority of Republicans oppose a majority of Democrats (Party Unity).
* And the frequency with which they show up and cast "yea" or "nay" votes (Voting Participation).

Their searchable and sortable table shows Party Unity, Presidential Support and Voting Participation scores for individual lawmakers who are currently serving in the 111th Congress. Scores are based on 214 roll-call votes cast in the Senate through June 25, and 475 roll-call votes cast in the House through June 26 (the House also conducted two recorded quorum calls so far this year).

Interesting finds:

Dennis Kucinich votes less with President Obama and less with the Democratic party as a whole than Jane Harmon.

Dennis Kucinich: 85 91 99
Jane Harmon: 91 98 81

Russ Feingold scores an unimpressive 78 on party unity and an 86 on support for President Obama. In comparison Senator Gillibrand scores 97,98; Landrieu scores 97,87; Baucus 97,90.

The most loyal Senate Democrats? Kennedy, Durbin, Mikulski, Kerry.

The most disloyal: Feingold, Bayh, (Ben)Nelson, Specter.

Of course, the devil is in the details - and we can debate forever which votes are more important than others.

http://innovation.cqpolitics.com/media/votestudy2009/?referrer=tout