[StBernard] Report: Landrieu Among Senates Most Bipartisan

[Westley Annis]

Report: Landrieu Among Senate's Most Bipartisan
CQ calls Sen. Landrieu "one of [her] party's most prominent moderates."

 

WASHINGTON - Congressional Quarterly's (CQ) Weekly magazine cover story this
week discussed the influence of Congress' moderates, including United States
Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., whom the magazine called "one of [her]
party's most prominent moderates." Sen. Landrieu is the second-most centrist
member of her party, according to a CQ analysis of 560 roll call votes
during the Bush presidency on which the President took a clear position. In
a separate CQ analysis - 1,497 votes where a majority of one party opposed a
majority of the other - Sen. Landrieu ranked third-most centrist among
Democrats. 

 "In the Senate, I will always fight for Louisiana first," Sen. Landrieu
said. "Sometimes to the chagrin of my party, I am the deciding vote against
legislation that would be onerous to our state. An example is my vote on a
Democratic energy package last year that would have left Louisiana footing
the bill for other states' energy consumption. I will continue to side with
Louisianians over politics.

"I am now working with the bipartisan 'Gang of 10' senators on an energy
solution that will move the country forward. This solution will include more
domestic production, including more oil and gas drilling, as well as
incentives to increase conservation and invest in alternative technologies.
" 

The "Gang of 10" includes five Democrats and five Republicans, who have been
meeting regularly to produce pro-production legislation that can pass the
United States Senate. Sen. Landrieu was part of a similar bipartisan group
in the spring 2005: the "Gang of 14." That group of seven Democrats and
seven Republicans averted a Senate shutdown over judicial nominations. The
CQ story highlights both "gangs" as examples of bipartisanship prevailing
over status quo partisan politics in the Senate.

In March, the National Journal magazine's annual voting study called Sen.
Landrieu the Senate's "ideological center." The nonpartisan news magazine
noted there are an equal number of Senators with a more conservative voting
record than Sen. Landrieu as there are with a more liberal record. Also in
March, Congress.org's 2008 Congressional Power Rankings named Sen. Landrieu
the 10th most effective legislator in the Senate, and cited her moderate
position's "influence [on] the legislative process" as a key factor to her
high ranking.

With Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Sen. Landrieu currently serves as co-chair
of the Common Ground Coalition, which discusses key issues of the 110th
Congress in order to build consensus for bipartisan, commonsense
legislation.

The full CQ cover story is available here:
http://landrieu.senate.gov/news/08.07.28_CQ_Moderates_Story.pdf

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