Are There Any Mavericks in the Senate?

The very premise seems ridiculous on first glance.  The Senate is known as a deliberative body, but seems to be debilitative.  Somewhat unlike our wackier friends in the House of Representatives, members of the Senate tend to be homogenous, think very little, and accomplish very little.  They’re older, whiter, and richer.  It is on the one end less conservative than the House, and on the other end, less liberal than the House.

Congressional Quarterly put out some data regarding how much party unity and presidential support Senators and Congressmen have displayed during the entire Bush reign.  I borrowed their data and created what I call the ‘Maverick Index’.  For Democrats, it’s a measure of how often they do not display party unity and how often they vote with President Bush.  For Republicans, it’s a measure of how often they do not display party unity and how often they vote against President Bush.  I treated Bernie Sanders and Joseph Lieberman as Democrats because they caucus with the Democrats.

Without further ado, here’s the table of Senators with their Maverick Index.

You can have fun looking for your favorite Senator!

I’m fond of any State that can elect James Inhofe *and* Tom Coburn.  Oklahoma:  The Pro-torture Douchebag State.

By this measure, Bernie Sanders is not a maverick, and Ben Nelson is.  That’s interesting and kind of amusing.  If being a maverick is going against your own party, then the mavericks will be the conservative Democrats and the liberal Republicans.

The oldriginal maverick, J. Sidney McCain is sandwiched between Chuck Hagel and Pat Roberts.  All in all, that’s not a good place to be.  I’m sure he’s happier being sandwiched in between Cindy and Sarah.  McCain is also tied with Larry Craig.  Maver-icky!  The Democrats who are nearest McCain but slightly less maverick-y are John Rockefeller and Daniel Inouye.  The Democrat who is nearest McCain and slightly more maverick-y is Herb Kohl.  McCain is in a wild neighborhood!  If not for Larry Craig, there would be very little to creep me out in that neighborhood.

The reason I chose the Senate is because 3 of the candidates still standing for the President and Vice President jobs are in the Senate.  Hillary Clinton is also a Senator.  Here’s a table of the 3 candidates and Hillary.

Now, I see how McCain can use the maverick tag.  He’s 8% more maverick-y than Joe Biden.  He’s 63% more maverick-y than Barack Obama.

However, it’s extremely easy for McCain to throw out a maverick vote once in a while.  It’s always easy to vote against an unpopular president, and it’s always easy to vote against an unpopular party.  He has both.  His seat is also safe.

Tags: Ben Nelson, Bernie Sanders, Congressional Quarterly, conservative, democrat, House of Representatives, James Inhofe, John McCain, liberal, Maverick, republican, Senate, Tom Coburn