Question about these DLC members [View All]

[SaveElmer]

I posted this in response to another message, but that thread has died...so

Listed here are some of the 20 senators (and one congressman), that are listed as being DLC members...A reponse I got from another poster inidcated that he thought these were the worst of the lot (progressive wise). I have questions about them!

First, what do you think of the voters in the states that send these people to office year after year? Are they just ignorant of the DLC? Do they support them?

It does seem to put a lie to the notion that the DLC isn't capable of formulating a winning strategy...afer all nearly half of the Democrats in the Senate are members...as are a number of successful governors(Warner, Vilsack, Nepolitano etc)...how do you account for this seeming disparity? Is it just at the national level that their strategy falls apart?

Also, here are the lastest ADA Ratings for all the Senators and Congressman: (out of a perfect 100 liberal score)

Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator, IN - 90 (70)
Tom Carper, U.S. Senator, DE - 95 (80)
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator, NY - 95 (95)
Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator, CA - 100 (80)
Harold Ford, Jr. , U.S. Representative, TN - 75 (70)
Mary Landrieu, U.S. Senator, LA - 85 (85)
Joe Lieberman, U.S. Senator, CT - 75 (70)
Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator, AR - 95 (70)
Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator, FL - 80 (70)
Ben Nelson, U.S. Senator, NE - 65 (50)
Mark Pryor, U.S. Senator, AR - 85 (not yet in Senate in 2002)


As you can see, the worst score on here is, as you might expect, Ben Nelson of Nebraska...(btw the ADA lists Senators with ratings between 40-60 moderate)...for comparison...I have also listed the 2002 rating...this of course is the year the Iraq war was authorized. This rating is in parens. So, in 2002 ratings for virtually every one of these individuals was lower than in 2004 (except Hillary who remained at 95), though all except Nelson were to the left of moderate as defined by the ADA.

My question is, does this indicate to you that the ADA is another non-progressive organization? Or is it possible that the folks listed here really aren't as conservative as most think they are? And, doesn't this also put the lie to the influence of the DLC on these Senators...after all, every one of them voted more progressive in 2004 than they did in 2002!!!