The New American Conservative Union ratings are out.

In 2010, the following Senators received scores of more than 80 on the ACU score:
*Lamar Alexander
*John Barrasso
*Bob Bennett
*Kit Bond
*Sam Brownback
*Jim Bunning
*Richard Burr
*Saxby Chambliss
*Tom Coburn
*Thad Cochran
*Bob Corker
*John Cornyn
*Mike Crapo
*Jim DeMint
*John Ensign
*Mike Enzi
*Lindsey Graham
*Chuck Grassley
*Orrin Hatch
*Kay Bailey Hutchinson
*James Inhofe
*Johnny Isakson
*Mike Johanns
*Jon Kyl
*George LeMieux
*John McCain
*Mitch McConnell
*Jim Risch
*Pat Roberts
*Jeff Sessions
*Richard Shelby
*John Thune
*David Vitter
*Roger Wicker

So, which Republican caucus members were not on this list?
*George Voinovich (retired)
*Judd Gregg (retired)
*Scott Brown
*Susan Collins
*Olympia Snowe
*Dick Lugar
*Mark Kirk
*Lisa Murkowski

There are some common misconceptions about certain Senators on here that I feel compelled to address.

Lindsey Graham voted with the Democrats less than 17 of his colleagues. If you think Graham’s vote for Elena Kagan is enough to warrant a primary challenge, well, then, yeah, you are furious at him. But if you are furious at him because he has voted with the Democrats on major pieces of legislation, well then your point doesn’t stand.

So who needs to get a primary?

Mark Kirk
It is too early to say whether Mark Kirk does. After all, he has only been in the Senate for several months. He voted for Food Safety and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I don’t think nominating a conservative Republican in Illinois is a good idea though – We tried that with Bill Brady in the most conservative year (probably ever), and he lost. Kirk has a nice collection of rural, suburb votes (which are not as strong Republican as they used to be), and some city votes. Kirk is up for reelection in 2016.S

Scott Brown

And then there are those that would like to lose a seat with someone principled rather than keep the seat with a moderate. First of all, Scott Brown voted the conservative position 3/4 of the time. Let’s face it, Jim DeMint isn’t going to win in MA, where Republicans will make up about 25% of the vote on election day in 2012. Scott Brown is a legit conservative – he is trying to go as far as possible and still try to be reelected. If the Senate comes down to 50-50, and it turns out that Reid still controls the Senate because we nominated a more conservative candidate … well, I hope that doesn’t happen. Pick a candidate that supports you 3/4 of the time and doesn’t try to make a big deal of his cross-over votes (unlike the Maine women) or a candidate who won’t support you at all, will support the Kennedy union agenda, and will put Reid/Durbin in charge of the Senate.

Dick Lugar
There’s not much to say here. This guy’s been there way too long and it’s RED Indiana. 71% conservative.

The Maine Women
The Maine Women … Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. When they vote against us and for the liberal government funding agenda, they make a big deal of it and it really annoys the heck out of me. I believe that Paul LePage shows a conservative can get elected in Maine…but this needs to be a conservative who knows his or her issues well and is not a celebrity like O’Donnell. Maine people won’t like that (or Angle).

Let me know what your opinion is on the moderates in the Senate …

and the voting can be found here.

http://www.conservative.org/ratings/ratingsarchive/2010/2010SenateRatings.htm#SC

http://www.conservative.org/congress-ratings/2010-u-s-senate-vote-descriptions