I love the Liberty Central website as an excellent place for me to use for political research. I especially like the legislative scorecards they did for the 111th Congress. All 535 members of the US House and US Senate received a grade from A to F. They based the grades on 12 House votes and 14 Senate votes that they decided had the most effect on their five principles of liberty. These grades make so much more sense to me than any scorecard I have seen by ACU, CFG, or NTU. I like it so much that I crunched some numbers from it to create this diary. I took the results for 5 incumbent Dem Senators and 27 incumbent Dems in the US House that the experts are calling toss-ups. The grades they have received do not provide a reason to call these races toss-ups for anyone except possibly Bobby Bright. We need to remember these important votes, and not allow anyone to distract us from the fact that the votes are really what matters most. When a Susan Estrich opines that that there are fissures and divisions in the Republican Party what she is actually saying is that she will be less bummed about a Democrat losing to a liberal Republican. I say let her be bummed. Let's nominate and elect Republicans who can earn an A from Liberty Central instead of an F. We can do this as long as we GOTV and don't allow our enemies to distract us. They will be trying. They are very trying.

Liberty Central compiled scores for all Senators, in order to determine which Senators have the most respect for five principles: limited government, individual liberty, personalresponsibility, free enterprise, and national security.

The 14 Senate votes measured

Dodd-Frank Conference Report*
Murkowski Resolution*
Border Fence*
Financial Reform*
Earmark Moratorium*
Health Care*
SERVE/Americorps*
Stimulus*
Sanctuary Cities*
Terrorist Trials in Civilian Courts*
Lilly Ledbetter*
Repeal DC Gun Ban*
TARP Rescission*
School Choice*

Scores were calculated as follows.

1 point for each vote that contradicted our five principles (e.g., growing the size of government, weakening our national defense, or taking measures against the free market).

1 additional point for sponsoring or co-sponsoring one of the aforementioned bills, since the Senator proudly attached his or her name to that measure.

1 point for opposing legislation that supports the five principles.

In other words, the higher the score, the worse the Senator. Tallied points for each Senator and assigned grades based on the following scale: A=0 to 1 points, B=2-3 points, C=4-6 points, D=7-8 points, F=9 and above.

Incumbent                                         Grade         Score
Bennett, Michael (D-CO)                       F               12
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)                          F                15
Feingold, Russ (D-WI)                          F                15
Murray, Patty (D-WA)                            F                15
Reid, Harry (D-NV)                                F                15

Liberty Central compiled scores for all Representatives, in order to determine whichRepresentatives have the most respect for five principles: limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise, and national security.

Incumbent                                         Grade         Score
Arcuri, Mike (D-NY24)                            F                12
Bishop, Timothy (D-NY01)                     F                 15
Boucher, Rick (D-VA09)                        D                  8
Bright, Bobby (D-AL02)                         B                  2
Carney, Christopher P. (D-PA10)          D                  8
Connolly, Gerald E. "Gerry" (D-VA11)   F                14
Foster, Bill (D-IL14)                               F                12
Giffords, Gabrielle (D-AZ08)                  F                15
Hall, John (D-NY19)                             F                 15
Heinrich, Martin T. (D-NM01)                 F                15
Hill, Baron (D-IN09)                               F                  9
Kagen, Steve (D-WI08)                          F                13
Kirkpatrick, Ann (D-AZ01)                      F                  9
Klein, Ron (D-FL22)                              F                14
Marshall, James (D-GA08)                    D                  8
McMahon, Mike (D-NY13)                      F                11
McNerney, Jerry (D-CA11)                    F                 12
Mitchell, Harry (D-AZ05)                       F                   9
Murphy, Patrick J. (D-PA08)                 F                 16
Nye, Glenn C. (D-VA02)                       F                   9
Rodriguez, Ciro (D-TX23)                     F                  12
Schrader, Kurt (D-OR05)                      F                 12
Shuler, Heath (D-NC11)                       D                   8
Skelton, Ike (D-MO04)                          F                  11
Space, Zachary T. (D-OH18)                F                  10
Spratt, John (D-SC05)                          F                  12
Sutton, Betty (D-OH13)                        F                   15