Replies

Does the ACU take a Senator's or Representative's votes on abortion into consideration when handing out their rankings? The numbers suggest that they did in 2001, when the 10 pro-abortion Republicans listed in "Top Ten Increases" scored between 25 and 52 (average score, 39), while the 7 pro-life Democrats listed in "Top Ten Decreases" (all but Byrd, Conrad and Jeffords) scored between 32 and 64 (average score, 50). But in 2002, the same 10 pro-abortion Republicans scored between 56 and 92 (average score, 74), while the same 7 pro-life Democrats scored between 8 and 32 (average score, 21), which suggests that their votes on abortion were not taken into account. Given the general increase in ACU ratings in 2002 for nominal Republicans (heck, Lincoln Chafee scored a 56, for crying out loud!), I have to assume that the ACU gave more weight in 2002 to party-line votes on proposals pushed by the Democratic Senate and Republican House, respectively, than in previous years, at the expense of pro-life issues.

That helps explain why Arlen Specter's ratings were 53 in 2002 but are 42 for his career. Given the fact that all Republicans received a slight "bump" from the ACU in 2002, Specter's rating is just as pitiful as it's ever been. To Specter apologists out there, all I have to say is, go, Pat, go!