Making it really simple for the NRSC

Since the National Republican Senatorial Committee seems to have trouble making a distinction between bed-wetting socialists, RINOs and conservatives, I thought I'd make it a bit easier for them. I've taken the latest ratings I could find from several conservative organizations and averaged them out so even the nitwits over at the NRSC can figure it out.

Averaged are the NTU's ratings for the 110th Congress, the ACU's 2008 Senate vote ratings, the Club for Growth's 2008 congressional scorecard, and the CAGW's 2008 Pig Book data. I had to make two minor adjustments. The first was for John McCain, who wasn't rated by the NTU for his failure to actually show up and vote. In order to give him the benefit of the doubt, I substituted McCain's '92 to '07 averaged NTU ratings. As CAGW wasn't able to score Senate votes for Roger Wicker, I used his most impressive House votes for the same year.

While I've labeled the bottom third as liberal, the middle third as squishy and the top tier as conservative, there are no real bragging rights here as the "conservative" bar has been lowered to below the knees for the past few years. To be considered squishy in 2008 is akin to being Benedict Arnold in 1780.

Here are data possibly easy enough for even John Cornyn to understand:

State	Member	Rating	Average
Alabama	SESSIONS	squishy	71.00
Alabama	SHELBY	squishy	57.75
Alaska	MURKOWSKI	squishy	62.75
Alaska	STEVENS	liberal	33.25
Arizona	KYL	conservative	87.50
Arizona	McCAIN	squishy	70.00
Colorado	ALLARD	conservative	83.50
Florida	MARTINEZ	liberal	52.25
Georgia	CHAMBLISS	squishy	62.75
Georgia	ISAKSON	squishy	62.75
Idaho	CRAIG	squishy	64.25
Idaho	CRAPO	conservative	81.25
Indiana	LUGAR	squishy	55.75
Iowa	GRASSLEY	liberal	52.25
Kansas	BROWNBACK	conservative	73.00
Kansas	ROBERTS	conservative	74.00
Kentucky	BUNNING	conservative	87.50
Kentucky	McCONNELL	squishy	58.50
Louisiana	VITTER	squishy	69.75
Maine	COLLINS	liberal	39.00
Maine	SNOWE	liberal	29.75
Minnesota	COLEMAN	liberal	38.00
Mississippi	COCHRAN	liberal	48.50
Mississippi	WICKER	liberal	54.50
Missouri	BOND	liberal	48.50
Nebraska	HAGEL	squishy	66.75
Nevada	ENSIGN	conservative	82.50
New Hampshire	GREGG	conservative	72.75
New Hampshire	SUNUNU	squishy	66.75
New Mexico	DOMENICI	liberal	45.50
North Carolina	BURR	conservative	72.00
North Carolina	DOLE	liberal	49.50
Ohio	VOINOVICH	liberal	47.25
Oklahoma	COBURN	conservative	92.00
Oklahoma	INHOFE	conservative	79.00
Oregon	SMITH	liberal	32.50
Pennsylvania	SPECTER	liberal	36.50
South Carolina	DeMINT	conservative	98.00
South Carolina	GRAHAM	squishy	63.75
South Dakota	THUNE	conservative	79.50
Tennessee	ALEXANDER	squishy	60.00
Tennessee	CORKER	conservative	75.25
Texas	CORNYN	squishy	67.00
Texas	HUTCHISON	liberal	55.50
Utah	BENNETT	squishy	56.00
Utah	HATCH	squishy	68.25
Virginia	WARNER	liberal	35.25
Wyoming	BARRASSO	conservative	91.00
Wyoming	ENZI	conservative	91.00