I share some of your fears. Just about every Republican in the Senate is weak kneed and has statist tendencies. You almost had been buying your whole thesis until nearly the end when you defended Lott. Lott was a statist and, according to the National Taxpayers Union, had a worse record than Frist in supporting more spending. This attempt to make Traitor (defend affirmative action across the board) Lott into some sort of anti-big government folk hero only undermines your case.
I keep seeing this ACU rating being bandied about the forum.
I do not think that this rating works well in the Senate, where votes are always traded for votes, and nothing is what it is.
Yes, I do view Lott as more protective of the Constitution then Frist. Frists voting patterns will radically change when he assumes the leadership.
Let's revisit this in 2004 and see what happened.