Congress: Liberal, Moderate or Conservative and the Case of Maine

Did you ever wonder whether Maine’s congressional delegation was conservative, moderate or liberal?

Or whether on balance Congress is conservative or liberal?

Well, so did I, and I developed my own system for getting answers about the political orientation of members of Congress.

Instead of using my personal view of how to determine who is liberal and who is conservative, I turned to two organizations that rate Congress.

The American Conservative Union measures the conservatism of members of the U.S. House and Senate.  A key part of the ACU ratings is its decision about what are the bellwether issues.

Similarly, the Americans for Democratic Action picks key issues for liberals and rates members by their votes on these issues.  There is some overlap with the ACU issue selection.

I combine the ratings of the two organizations into a single rating, the only one producing a neutral result without relying on the rater’s view of what issues to include. 

The rating covers last year, so it is important to recognize that the composition of Congress has changed.  For example, Maine’s Olympia Snowe is no longer a senator, and there is no rating yet for Sen. Angus King.  Initial voting suggests he will get a liberal rating

On the House side, Rep. Chellie Pingree, Maine’s First District Democrat, got a strong liberal rating, while Rep. Mike Michaud, the Democrat from the Second District, also scored on the liberal side, though less so than Pingree.

Their ratings probably reflect the political composition of their districts.  But it is important to remember that the issues on which the ratings are based were selected by national organizations and may not reflect the issues most important to Mainers.

These ratings suggest that in next year’s election, Collins could continue to draw support from Republican, Democratic and independent voters, even if she is too moderate for some conservative members of her own party.

Pingree probably well reflects her electorate.  Michaud’s voting record has made him a comfortable choice in his home Second District, and his ratings should help in the more liberal First District which he seeks to carry in his race for governor.

For the Senate and House as a whole, the ratings reveal what probably most people would have expected.  There are relatively few moderates in either house of Congress.

Of the 100 senators, 11 turn out to have been moderates, including both Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins.  They are Republicans as were nine of the moderates. In the House, with 435 members, most of the 46 moderates are Democrats.

Generally, the Democrats get liberal ratings, the Republicans conservative.

The Senate has more liberals than conservatives and has an overall average moderate liberal rating.  The majority is Democratic.

In the House, just the opposite is true.  With a GOP majority, the conservatives greatly outnumber the liberals, and the overall average rating is moderate conservative.

Among the state delegations, combining both Senate and House members, in 2012 Maine was the second most conservative New England state.  New Hampshire was more conservative, but   the Granite State rating will undoubtedly change this year as its two Republican House members have been replaced by Democrats.

Everything is relative.  Almost all state delegations in the Northeast tend to be more liberal than the country as a whole, with Vermont the most liberal state.

One surprising result is the rating of Ron Paul, the retired Texas Republican congressman who supported libertarian positions and inspired many Maine GOP conservatives.  He rated as a moderate.

A key finding is that GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, got a relatively rare, extreme conservative rating.

Recently, his conservatism led him into a conflict with Maine’s Collins, a moderate.  She was a leader in developing a transportation bill, which provides federal highway funding, and lined up enough GOP support to get it through the Senate.

But McConnell, who faces a tea party challenger in the 2014 Republican primary, decided to oppose it.  Loyal to their leader, who can dole out choice party jobs, all other GOP senators fell in line, leaving Collins the sole member of her party to support the bill, which could not overcome a filibuster.

When there is a strong core of moderates, both houses of Congress can produce results.  When either party is led by a person with strong liberal or conservative leanings, compromise can become more difficult to achieve.

Right now, the number of moderates seems to be dwindling, making next year’s election a potentially critical test of whether Congress will be able to again produce results.