ACU's Wisconsin Congressional Ratings

   By Donna Cole


 The American Conservative Union (ACU) has released it's yearly Ratings of the United States Congress (pdf) leading into next months Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) beginning March 14th. These rankings are for last year, 2012, the second session of the 112th Congress. ACU uses a 100 point scale, and ranks members based on their voting record. The higher the number, the more conservative the member is.


 Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul made some headlines because they both scored a perfect 100 and were awarded the Defenders of Liberty designation. These two make news because they are possible 2016 presidential candidates, but also with a 100 score is Wisconsin's Sen. Ron Johnson. He was the only member of Wisconsin's Congressional delegation to make the Defenders of Liberty list with a perfect score.


 Those who miss the perfect 100, but score 80 or above make the ACU Conservative list. Four of the five Wisconsin Republican House members made this list. Leading the pack and just missing a top score is Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (5th) with a 96. He was followed by Rep. Reid Ribble (8th) with an 88. Janesville Rep. Paul Ryan (1st) and Rep. Sean Duffy (7th) both came in with an 84. Rep. Tom Petri (6th) missed the ACU Conservative list with a score of 76, still not too bad.


 Looking on the Democrat side of things, now Senator, then Madison's Rep. Tammy Baldwin (2nd) and Milwaukee's Rep. Gwen Moore (4th) both made the ACU True Liberal list by scoring zeros. Now retired Sen. Herb Kohl joined Baldwin and Moore with his own goose egg. Rep. Ron Kind (3rd) just missed the dubious distinction of the True Liberal list by squeezing out an 8. (Check the above link to the ACU ratings for their full lists and scoring methodology.)


 While Wisconsin did go for President Obama in the 2012 election (which he mainly won, and also pulled Sen. Tammy Baldwin to victory, due to a high turnout in Milwaukee of folks who don't normally vote, legally questionable union funded get out the vote efforts, and young women in college who voted for free condoms) and has a history as a blue state, the state's Congressional delegation paints a much more conservative picture. Adding in that the State Assembly, Senate and governor's office are solidly in Republican hands completes this picture.


 This is not to mention the current right leaning make up of the State Supreme Court which frames this picture of the state nicely. Wisconsin may never be a dark red like some southern states, but this is proof the Badger State in recent years has become a much redder state than most Democrats and liberal media pundits try, or want, to color it.

 Here is a Wisconsin Congressional District map for reference.