CNSNews.com - Inhofe Ranked Most Conservative Senator, Sherrod Brown Most Liberal

Inhofe Ranked Most Conservative Senator, Sherrod Brown Most Liberal
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
By Joe Schoffstall


Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is the “most conservative” member of the Senate, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is the “most liberal,” according to National Journal magazine.

In response to the report, Inhofe issued a statement on Feb. 26, saying, “I strongly believe that the conservative principles of less government, lower taxes, greater individual freedom and responsibility, and a strong national defense are the best answers for our nation.

“I will continue to stand for common sense Oklahoma values and against the liberal agenda of socialized medicine, run-away government spending, cap-and-trade, and the disarming of our national defense,” said Inhofe.

The National Journal reached its conclusions by analyzing the votes of all the U.S. senators on economic, social and foreign policy issues in 2009. As the magazine explained, the “senators are rated in each of the three issue categories on both liberal and conservative scales, with the scores on each scale given as percentiles.”

For example, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was given an 86, an 85, and a 55 for voting on the liberal side of, respectively, economic, social, and foreign policy. This means he was more liberal than 86 percent, 85 percent, and 55 percent of his colleagues on those issues. For the conservative side of those votes, Kerry ranked a 12 percent, 0 percent and 0 percent.

Inhofe was given 0 percent, 0 percent, and 0 percent, respectively, for the liberal side of economic, social and foreign policy. On the conservative side of those three issues, he ranked, respectively, 98 percent, 97 percent and 94 percent. His overall ranking was 95.8 percent “conservative.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was on the opposite side, pulling in 88 percent, 85 percent, and 55 percent liberal, respectively, on economic, social and foreign policy issues. On the conservative side of those issues, Brown ranked 0 percent across the board.


Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
In the “most conservative” category, Inhofe was followed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho). Inhofe was the only member with a perfect conservative score in 2009.

For the “most liberal” category, five senators tied for first place: Brown, followed by Sen. Roland Burris (D- Ill.), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Rhode Island Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse.

According to National Journal, the top 10 most conservative members of the Senate are as follows:

Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
Jim Bunning (R-Ky.)
Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
Jim Risch (R-Idaho)
John Thune (R-S.D.)
John Ensign (R-Nev.)
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
Richard Burr (R- N.C.)
Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

The top 10 most liberal members of the Senate are:

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Roland Burris (D-Ill.)
Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)


Brown did not issue a statement about his ranking as the most liberal senator. Inquiries to his office by CNSNews.com for comment were not returned before this story was posted.