The New Political Rating System That Shows the Stakes This Year

[Scuba]

Last edited Tue Sep 2, 2014, 10:34 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/upshot/elections-2014-where-the-candidates-stand.html?rref=upshot&abt=0002&abg=1&_r=1

The New Political Rating System That Shows the Stakes This Year
Elections 2014: Where the Candidates Stand

Any one of five or six campaigns could determine which party wins control of the Senate in November. Yet the race in Iowa is worth an extra dash of attention, not only because it’s been among the most entertaining – full of target practice, hog castration and the Koch brothers – but also because of the ideological distance between the two candidates. It’s even bigger than in many other races.

In Arkansas, Mark Pryor, the incumbent locked in a tough race, is among the Senate’s most conservative Democrats. In New Hampshire, Scott Brown, the challenger, is a well-known moderate among Republicans. Representative Renee Ellmers, left, a Republican from North Carolina’s Second Congressional District, is running for re-election against Clay Aiken. In Iowa, though, neither of the candidates – Bruce Braley, a Democratic House member, and Joni Ernst, a Republican state senator – qualifies as a centrist. Mr. Braley has a populist tinge to his politics, like the senator he’s trying to succeed, Tom Harkin. Ms. Ernst is an Iraq veteran who has questioned the need for a federal minimum wage. Come November, one of them, and only one of them, will have a national platform to advance his or her views.

...

Until now, it has been nearly impossible to compare the ideological gap in Senate and House campaigns systematically. But an online service making its debut on Tuesday, known as Crowdpac, aims to change that. Using the work of a Stanford political scientist, it gives an ideological score to all candidates, based on their donors and, for those who have held federal office before, their voting history. Other rating systems tend to be based only on votes and, as a result, don’t cover candidates who haven’t been in Congress before.

The Crowdpac database goes back to 1980, allowing for a portrait of American politics over the last generation. It shows, not surprisingly, that moderate candidates in both parties used to win elections more frequently than they do now. Today, elected officials within each party are more similar to one another – and more different from the other side – than in the recent past.

See link for more, including graphic of ratings.


Edited to add missing link.

[antiquie]

1. Link

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/upshot/elections-2014-where-the-candidates-stand.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0

[Scuba]

2. Thank you.