About 50 years ago, Sugar Ray Robinson learned the fine art of boxing extra hard the last minute of each round. Sugar Ray impressed the judges mightily and improved his record. Guess he didn't have to get you down to win. Well, Republican Senators, except for the most troglodyte, are using that lesson to appear moderate and avoid some embarrassing votes.
Progressive Punch, as Paul noted recently, has added a "current session" rating to go with the career rating. The numbers for GOPer Senators up for election next year shows either a mass conversion or a political trick of the first order.
The 16 Republican Senators with the most moderate records in the class all showed a more liberal voting record in 2007 than for their career. None of the bottom six were as liberal in 2007 as for their career with the exception of the newly appointed Barrasso of Wyoming who has no previous record. Barraso's current record is bad enough. On average, the top 16 cast liberal votes in 2007 19.50% of the time; their career numbers waveraged 10.62%. Without further ado, here are the numbers (2007 first followed by career).
STATE BLOGS
