Congress and President Bartlet

Congress and the President

Presidential Support over Time

Presidential Popularity

Statements of Administration Policy

Note how both President Clinton and President Bartlet used the Antiquities Act. In this case, as in others, have presidents overstepped their authority?As for the latter, shall see a classic video presentation of LBJ working his will on Congress. Here is an audio on the same topic. (And another.) Could you picture similar conversations with President Bush?

Republicans Lose Hastert's Seat

Ooo...burn!

Democrat Bill Foster pulled off an upset against Republican Jim Oberweis in a special election for former Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat in the Illinois 14th district. Apparently nobody really saw this one coming: It's a historically safe Republican district and this is Foster's first elected office. (Previously, a physist.)

Here's an unfortunate money quote from one unnamed GOP aide:

“By itself, this would not be that big of a deal, but coupled with everything else it will just deflate the [House Republican] Conference...And symbolically, losing Hastert’s seat is like the toppling of the Saddam statue in Baghdad for Republicans.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8920.html

Senate Power Rankings

Knowledgis calculated a ranking of members based upon their "power and ability to be effective." The criteria they used were position, indirect influence, legislative activity, and earmarks. I'm not sure what exact methodology they used to calculate and weight those factors. It appears that they amassed a lot of data to produce this but I couldn't find where they go into how they actually calculate their numbers. Anyway here's a cool looking graph compiled from this data.

Not surprisingly, the Democrats in general have more power. They are the majority right now after all. Interestingly there are a few Republicans high up on the power rankings. Mitch McConnell and John McCain are fairly powerful by this measure. Interestingly Clinton is slightly more powerful than John McCain who is slightly more powerful than Obama (again by this measure). Of course, all of them are less powerful than Diane Feinstein so California reigns supreme.

The Floor

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

A real filibuster:

Jack and Hill what a great team

Jack Nicholson endorsed Hilary Clinton, finally she has some star power,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JtVCWOGDy8

better yet here's a parody,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBXL3LGgPmE&NR=1

Legislative Language

• Martial Law
• Vote-a-Rama
• Hotlining
• Airdropping
• Phonemarking
• Ping-ponging
• BTU'd