Burnt Orange Report
News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Burnt Orange ReportNews, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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May 21, 2004Adopt-A-SenatorBy Jim DallasYes, I know I can be a little fatuous with all these polls, selectors, and quizzes (what can I say, I was turned to the dark side while working at the Texan alongside some serious TheSpark.com addicts). Scottm brings us this selector which purports to answer the question, "which Democratic senator do you have the most in common with?" As for me: 1: Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (South Carolina) (100%) ... 20: Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut) (46%) I'd say that's mostly accurate; it's a shame Hollings is leaving the Senate, and past time for Miller to go. Although I do admire the fact that Breaux has a certain somethin'-somethin' that keeps him so popular in Louisiana. Daschle and Kerry both scored in the middle (63% and 50% respectively). I'd conveniently note that while Hollings and Breaux are riding off into the sunset, you can and should consider donating to Inez Tenenbaum and Chris John (or John Kennedy). Also, Tom Daschle could use a pat on the back, and John Kerry needs turkee too. Unfortunately, it leaves out a few pretty powerful senators (e.g. Feingold, Landrieu, Edwards) to squeeze into selectsmart's 25 selection limit. P.S. I know it made me feel warm and fuzzy when Kerry noted his original support for the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act. Although some would deride it as mere show, the G-R-H Balanced Budget Act eventually lead to the adoption of PAYGO rules under the first Bush administration and under Clinton. As such, I would say G-R-H is probably the most important piece of legislation adopted in the last twenty years; Congress should adopt new PAYGO restraints soon, as our national fiscal crisis is the most serious problem we face today (worse even, I think, than Operation Iraqi Quicksand). Posted by Jim Dallas at May 21, 2004 07:22 PM | TrackBackComments
I took the test. It's pretty obvious I'm a liberal: Rank Item Percent I took the liberal line on everything basically. Two exceptions: 1) I said my ideal senator would have voted for No Child Left Behind. I don't think that it was a terribly bad bill, it just hasn't been funded. I also said "no opinion" on the male / female question. On the war in Iraq question I said I would have voted against the resolution but for funding post-war. Posted by: Byron L at May 22, 2004 01:23 AMOK, I voted moderate to conservative and got Fritz at the top of my list too. I guess that just makes me an 86-year-old anti-Semite liberal from the Deep South. ;) Just kidding. I'm curious what the algorithm is below this, because my selection base was probably different from Byron's, to hear him talk. Of course, a lot of what may drive this is the abortion ban priority and the no child priority, and the fact that I placed healthcare high. One question: Where are the other 19 Democrats in the Senate on this form? Rank Item Percent "One question: Where are the other 19 Democrats in the Senate on this form?" That's a good question. SelectSmart limits user-created selectors to 25 options. Apparently the 25 were randomly chosen(?) Posted by: Jim D at May 22, 2004 01:44 PMHey Jim- OK, that's useful. Thanks. To make it more effective, set up two forms, each with 22 senators. Rank the senators according to their ADA or ACU scores. Pu the odd-numbered ones in one data base, even numbered in the other. Then run the same answers against both data sets. You should get an accurate comparison to all the senate (though I was shocked to see that Blanche Lincoln is closer to Zell than Fritz . . . maybe she is the answer to the Kerrymate question). Posted by: Keith G at May 23, 2004 07:35 AMPost a comment
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