Progressive Punch Rates The Candidates
May 30th, 2008 04:01

ProgressivePunch is a non-partisan searchable database of Congressional voting records from a Progressive perspective. True blue Democrats won’t be surprised that Clinton ranked as more progressive than Obama. The rank represents their rank among their Senate colleagues.

Category/Issue
HRC Score
HRC Rank
BHO Score
BHO Rank
Corporate Subsidies
100
1
77.71
28
Education & The Arts
90.91
37
85.71
42
Environment
92.21
20
94.44
16
Taxation
96.92
13
93.10
31
Family Planning
87.50
33
80.00
40
Checks on Corporate Power
96.75
7
91.18
18
Health Care
98.96
12
92.86
31
Housing
100
1
100
1
Human Rights/Civil Liberties
87.93
25
75.00
41
Justice/Criminal Law
93.90
19
87.85
26
Labor Rights
91.55
20
91.67
17
Making Govt. Work
94.41
15
87.32
33
War & Peace
85.37
34
88.26
28
OVERALL
91.11
20
88.54
25
Source: ProgressPunch.org

Senator Clinton ranked in the top fifth of the Senate in ten of the 13 categories while Obama ranked in the top fifth of the Senate only four times. Senator Clinton achieved two number one rankings Corporate Subsidies (that is toughest on) and on Housing issues where Hillary was ironically tied with Obama, his only number one ranking.

I have been arguing for months that Obama is the coporate establishment candidate. I have profiled his ties to Big Pharma, Oil & Gas and other Energy companies and his deep personal ties to lobbyists. That he underperforms Clinton in the category of Checks on Corporate Power is no surprise to me, my query is more when it will it surprise his adoring supporters that Obama is not who he says he is.

Particularly galling is Obama’s 40th ranking on family planning issues. It will be a cold day in hell before I donate money to NARAL and Obama’s 41st ranking on Human Rights & Civil Liberties. Obama’s worse performance came in the field of education where he ranked 42nd. I am a bit shocked by the poor performance on education but certainly not surprised on the former two categories.

I am also struck that in the category of Making Government Work, sort of the centerpiece of Obama’s quixotic campaign, Clinton ranked 15th and Obama 33rd. Not even close.

Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse ranked as the most progressive member of the United States Senate followed by Ohio’s Sherrod Brown. Bernie Sanders of Vermont ranked sixth while my California Senators Barbara Boxer ranked 8th and Dianne Feinstein 31st. There were a few surprises, Chris Dodd of Connecticut came in at 27th and New Jersey’s Frank Launtenberg at 10th. Launtenberg has been a quiet but diligent and progressive Senator. Wisconsin’s over-hyped Ross Feingold ranked behind Clinton at 22nd. I am not surprised. Feingold is more mouth than real action. Jack Reed, another quiet hard-working Senator from my home state of Rhode Island, came in 5th in these rankings.

And lastly, John McCain ranked 60th.

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Posted in US Presidential Election by Charles Lemos
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denise b
May 30th, 2008 11:26

Wow, this is surprising. His supporters think he’s more liberal than she is and I thought perhaps his Senate voting record would show that. Didn’t some other group rate him the most progressive Senator? Hard to see how, looking at this.

Wish this had come out sooner.

Charles Lemos
May 30th, 2008 16:52

The National Journal rated Obama as the most liberal Senator. The difference is that the National Journal is a conservative publication with a clear political agenda and Progressive Punch is non-partisan. I was a bit surprised to see Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont rank sixth, I would have expected higher actually but Sheldon Whitehouse is a fine Senator from the bluest state in the nation, Rhode Island.

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