Republican Report Card for ’08 Senate Elections

34 seats are opening up in the US Senate next year, and I felt it might be a good opportunity for everyone to take a good long look at some of the incumbents that will be running for re-election next year. Below, I have assembled a brief report of all Republican Senators that will be defending their seats next fall.

Due to the vast number of references to quotes and comments, each Senator's name is linked to their Wikipedia profile. All references as well as links to their official websites can be found there.

• Lamar Alexander TN - In 1991, while serving as George H.W. Bush’s Education Secretary, accredited TRACS (The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. It's because of this guy that Liberty University has accreditation.

• Saxby Chambliss GA – 2002 campaign was based on themes of national defense and security, by using television ads that paired images of his opponent, Max Cleland with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and for questioning the commitment to homeland security of his opponent. Cleland is a triple amputee and decorated Vietnam veteran. There's nothing like seeing a guy who never served in the military say a triple amputee from Vietnam that he doesn't care about the safety of his country.

• Norm Coleman MN - In 2002, the Bush Administration persuaded Coleman to run against Paul Wellstone for Senate rather than try for the governor's chair. In his first year in office he voted with President Bush's position on bills 98 percent of the time.On January 22, 2007 Coleman, along with fellow Republican Senators John Warner and Susan Collins, joined the bipartisan opposition to President Bush's planned troop increase in Iraq. This is the guy Al Franken is taking on. Tell the public this guy voted along with Bush 98% of the time his first year, and I think we see where his loyalties lie.

• Susan Collins ME -On October 21, 2003, Collins was one of the three Republican Senators to oppose the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and voted with the Senate Democrats. In January, 2007, Senator Collins cosponsored a bipartisan, non-binding resolution with John Warner, Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith, and Ben Nelson that showed the Senate's disapproval of the President's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. I got nothing here. Collins seems to vote her conscience rather than her party. She routinely breaks ranks with the GOP, and opposed the surge.

• John Cornyn TX – Claimed that it was the fault of “raw political or ideological decisions” that multiple violent crimes and death threats were made against US judges. Yeah. Hey you judges out there. If a criminal you sent to jail threatens your life, just remember, it's your fault for being such an "activist."

• Elizabeth Dole NC - According to www.congress.org, in 2007 Dole was the 95th most powerful Senator out of 100 (45th among Senate Republicans). Not much else to say there. Just a fun fact; Tim Johnson SD, (the Senator that had a brain hemorrhage in 2006 and is still in recovery,) is ranked 51st in the same poll.

• Pete Domenici NM - Called and pressured then-United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico David Iglesias to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation, immediately prior to an election, that involved at least one former Democratic state senator. When Iglesias said an indictment wouldn't be handed down until at least December, Domenici said "I'm very sorry to hear that" — and the line went dead. Iglesias was fired one week later by the Bush Administration. With Gonzales staying firmly in place at the DOJ, this scandal isn't going to disappear before the '08 elections and Pete might be getting his own pink slip in the mail.
  

• Mike Enzi WY - Enzi was ranked by National Journal as the sixth-most conservative United States Senator in their March 2007 conservative/liberal rankings. He was one of fourteen Senators to vote against the Iraq Funding bill in May 2007 despite his strong support of the war because he opposes the clauses of the bill which increase domestic spending. What does it mean when you vote for the right cause for all the wrong reasons?

• Lindsey Graham SC - Graham has been an adamant supporter of "comprehensive immigration reform" and of S. 2611, the McCain-Kennedy Bill of 2006 as well as the equally hotly debated S. 1348 of 2007, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Graham has also been in the news because of his comments stemming from his latest trip to Iraq. If this doesn't show this guy's out of touch, I don't know what does.
  

• Jim Inhofe OK - In a July 28, 2003 Senate speech, Inhofe claimed to offer "compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. In his speech, Inhofe also claimed that, "satellite data, confirmed by NOAA balloon measurements, confirms that no meaningful warming has occurred over the last century." However the satellite temperature record corroborates the well-documented warming trend noted in surface temperature measurements. Additionally, the satellite record begins in 1979 and the balloon record effectively in 1958, so it is unclear what Inhofe means by "last century". OK, so he doesn't really know what a century is. In all fairness, maybe he doesn't know what global warming is either.

• Mitch McConnell KY - McConnell remains one of the strongest supporters of the American invasion of Iraq, which he considers a central part of the "War on Terrorism." He supported government action to help cigarette makers, Las Vegas casinos, the pharmaceutical industry, credit card lenders, coal mine owners, and others who gave large amounts of money. Woo ha! War, smokes, gambling, and drugs! I think we may have found where Elvis has been hiding all this time. Seriously though, get out.
  

• Pat Roberts KS - Voted to suspend habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an "unlawful combatant," barring them from challenging their detentions in court.The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters has given Roberts a score of zero on environmental issues for 2006. In that year, the senator voted to increase offshore oil drilling, to include provisions for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the House Budget Amendment, to deny funding for low-income energy assistance and for environmental stewardship, and effectively to exempt Army Corps of Engineers project analyses from independent review. But there's no need  to worry; as long as you're not deemed an "enemy combatant", and don't require the environment. The only people that should be voting for Roberts are the astronauts in the space station.

• Jeff Sessions AL - Had once labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "un-American," "Communist-inspired." Stated about the Ku Klux Klan, “I used to think they're OK,” until he learned that some Klan members were “pot smokers.” Sessions was one of only nine opponents of Senator John McCain's anti-torture amendment. Sessions supports Vice President Dick Cheney's proposal to exempt the CIA from any ban on torture. Find a handful of pictures of Sessions and Cheney together and post them on every street corner from now until November!

• Gordon Smith OR - In December 2006, spoke out against the Iraq war for the first time, after having voted in support of it four years prior. Smith said that to continue the current policy in Iraq "may even be criminal". Several weeks after stating his opposition to the occupation of Iraq, however, Smith declined to sign onto a bipartisan resolution to oppose the President's plan to escalate troop levels in Iraq by 21,500. In March 2007, Smith was one of only two Republicans to vote for a resolution aimed at withdrawing most American combat troops from Iraq in 2008. To his credit, he was one of the earlier Republicans to come out against the war. Now he needs to get out and start co-sponsoring some legislation to end it. Talk is cheap Gordon.

• Ted Stevens AK - In December 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Stevens had taken advantage of lax Senate rules to use his political influence to earn a large amount of his personal wealth. In late May 2007, the Anchorage Daily News reported that The FBI and a federal grand jury were investigating an "extensive" remodeling project at Stevens' home in Girdwood. I've been talking Ted Stevens ad nauseam lately. Read the other article on him and you be the judge.

• John E. Sununu NH - Voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment and has voted to require child safety locks with the transfer of handguns.He was one of a small group of Republicans to vote in favor of banning loans to China for any nuclear projects, and in September of 2005 he voted to disapprove a new rule set in place by the Administrator of the EPA delisting coal and other energy sources from the Clean Air Act. He was among the group of conservative Republicans to vote against the prescription drug bill passed in 2003. He also has become well known as one of the five Republican Senators who joined Democrats in a filibuster of the USA PATRIOT Act renewal conference report. This caused the Republican leadership to extend the original legislation until a compromise bill was forged.In October 2006, Sununu voted in support of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, suspending the right of habeas corpus for non-citizen detainees. On March 14, 2007, Sununu became the first Republican senator to call for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after a controversy over U.S. Attorney firings. Sununu cited his anger with the mismanagement by Gonzales and the lack of trustworthiness by GOP Senators towards Gonzales. He's just moderate enough to stick around in New Hampshire, and even though the Dems have his seat in their sights for the '08 election, he's been breaking ranks with the Bush Administration often enough to be able to distance himself from them in his campaign.

• John Barrasso WY - Barrasso was chosen on June 22, 2007, by Democratic Governor Freudenthal to replace the late Senator Craig L. Thomas. Too soon to tell with this guy. Let's see what he does over the next few months before passing judgment.

So there's the breakdown of our Republican Senators who are up for re-election in '08. I certainly hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed compiling it. In addition to those mentioned above, the following Senators have announced they will be retiring or choosing not run for re-election next year: Wayne Allard CO, Thad Cochran MS, Larry Craig ID, Chuck Hagel NE, and John Warner VA.

Comments

[George]

What i wouldnt do to see Al Franken win a Senate seat. And apparently he has a good shot. He's got some serious cash on hand I've heard.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

If the race gets close, they will go after him like crazy. There is so much the GOP has on Franken. I'm ready for the fight! :)

I'm also excited about Bob Kerrey running for Chuck Hagel's empty Senate seat once the Nebraska Republican retires in '08.

[Project Vote Smart]

For more information on all the Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2008 as well as other Congressional Republicans, please visit: Congressional Republicans

For information on elected officials or candidates, please visit Project Vote Smart or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.