Power rankings
Congress.org is out with its Power Rankings. Sometimes, the most well-known aren't the most powerful, you know. Sometimes they are.
Here's the rankings for Senate:
Sen. Frist (R-TN) 96.75 1
Sen. Specter (R-PA) 82.31 2
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Sen. McCain (R-AZ) 80.94 3
Sen. Grassley (R-IA) 78.50 4
Sen. Reid (D-NV) 71.06 5
Sen. Domenici (R-NM) 69.25 6
Sen. McConnell (R-KY) 64.56 7
Sen. Stevens (R-AK) 61.56 8
Sen. Hatch (R-UT) 56.75 9
Sen. Cochran (R-MS)
And for the House:
Rep. Hastert (R-IL-14) 97.25 1
Rep. DeLay (R-TX-22) 63.50 2
Rep. Lewis (R-CA-41) 60.57 3
Rep. Young (R-AK-AL) 55.00 4
Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-WI-5) 48.00 5
Rep. Barton (R-TX-6) 45.56 6
Rep. Thomas (R-CA-22) 42.13 7
Rep. Pelosi (D-CA-8) 41.89 8
Rep. Obey (D-WI-7) 40.00 9
Rep. Regula (R-OH-16) 38.38 10
But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "what about our people?"
As a group, Minnesota ranks on the weak side of "average." Figures.
Specifically, it goes like this:
Senate:
Name Rank in State Score Rank in Senate
Sen. Coleman (R-MN) 1 23.81 74
Sen. Dayton (D-MN) 2 15.75 91
House:
Name Rank in State Score Rank in House
Rep. Sabo (D-MN-5) 1 22.88 61
Rep. Oberstar (D-MN-8) 2 16.63 167
Rep. Kline (R-MN-2) 3 16.12 176
Rep. Kennedy (R-MN-6) 4 15.87 181
Rep. Ramstad (R-MN-3) 5 14.50 226
Rep. Gutknecht (R-MN-1) 6 14.00 233
Rep. Peterson (D-MN-7) 7 10.00 304
Rep. McCollum (D-MN-4) 8 4.00 429
I think the most surprising one -- to me -- is actually Kline ranking higher than Kennedy, but maybe that's just because of all the publicity Kennedy has generated with his Senate run, and Kline's tendency to be a little more low-key on the homefront. Peterson ranking so low, but that may be Democratic payback for the fact he's sort of not a Democrat while he sort of is.
What's interesting about Kline is that most of his ranking comes from the position he holds. But he gets 0 points for influence. Huh?
Kennedy gets -1 for influence, and points for position. And a low number of legislation.
Peterson gets nothing for influence, nothing for legislation. And
McCallum
McCollum (where'd that come from?) gets nothing for influence, nothing for legislation, and not much for position.
In the Senate, Dayton ranks 91 out of 100. Coleman 74 out of 100. Neither score is a heck of a lot to write home about.
But check that map. I'd have guessed that the South would be the one to have the most influence. But it's not. It's the mountain states and -- get this -- North Dakota.
How do you like that, Minnesota? You just got whacked by North Dakota.