Guess which US Senator has missed the most votes this session

[Joe Republic]

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/vote-missers/


1. John McCain (R-AZ): 58.4% of votes missed
2. Tim Johnson (D-SD): 56.0%
3. Barack Obama (D-IL): 40.2%
4. Joe Biden (D-DE): 33.0%
5. Chris Dodd (D-CT): 30.6%
6. Hillary Clinton (D-NY): 29.7%
7. Sam Brownback (R-KS): 24.5%
8. Daniel Inouye (D-HI): 11.2%
9. Robert Byrd (D-WV): 9.5%
10. Craig Thomas (R-WY): 9.4%*


So basically, McCain has had more absences from Senate votes than the two Democrats still fighting each other for the presidential nomination and the guy who has spent most of the session recuperating from a near-fatal brain hemorrhage.


* The votes that took place after Sen. Thomas's death are not counted.

[dead0man]

Ouch.  I came in here willing to give whoever it was the benifit of the doubt, but damn.  That's a big fregging difference.  Nearly 20% more than Obama and almost a third more than Hillary?  That aint good.

[minionofmidas]

One should perhaps check how many of these votes were held before the Republican nomination was decided.

It is at least possible that Clinton and Obama (and Biden and Dodd) could campaign a little less hard - and attend more Senate votes - because everybody except Johnny Reid was a Senator. None of McCain's opponents were.

[jeron]

Well, he's had to campaign very hard and he is old so maybe he was just too tired to turn up in Congress?

[Joe Republic]

One should perhaps check how many of these votes were held before the Republican nomination was decided.

The Republican nomination was arguably decided on Super Tuesday (Feb 5th), so from that date, McCain has so far missed 72 of the 108 votes held; exactly two-thirds of them.

He officially clinched the nomination on March 4th.  Since then, he has missed 54 of the 77 votes held; or 70% of them.

[Joe Republic]

During the 108th Congress (2003-05), John Kerry missed 72.3% of the Senate votes.  John Edwards was the second most absent Senator, having missed 45.2% of the votes.

[Joe Republic]

Major kudos to Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who hasn't missed a single floor vote in her entire Senate career.

[minionofmidas]

One should perhaps check how many of these votes were held before the Republican nomination was decided.

The Republican nomination was arguably decided on Super Tuesday (Feb 5th), so from that date, McCain has so far missed 72 of the 108 votes held; exactly two-thirds of them.

He officially clinched the nomination on March 4th.  Since then, he has missed 54 of the 77 votes held; or 70% of them.

Ah, OK.

[dead0man]

Ya know what makes it worse?  What's McCain been doing when he wasn't voting?  Whoring himself out.  That makes it doubly ugly.



(and I'm by no means a McCain hater.)

[Alcon]

McCain isn't seriously skipping all these votes mostly for his two low-stress events per day, which are mostly fundraisers? 

[JSojourner]

I just want to know what votes these people miss.  I don't mind when they miss a vote expressing the sense of the Senate honoring Lawrence Welk or declaring June 30th "National Boston Creme Pie Day".

But when they miss votes on public policy, I get pretty torqued off.

[dead0man]

Excellent point.

[minionofmidas]

I just want to know what votes these people miss.  I don't mind when they miss a vote expressing the sense of the Senate honoring Lawrence Welk or declaring June 30th "National Boston Creme Pie Day".

But when they miss votes on public policy, I get pretty torqued off.

Even when a majority is ensured anyways?

These attendance record rent-a-scandals always rip me up.

[Joe Republic]

I just want to know what votes these people miss.  I don't mind when they miss a vote expressing the sense of the Senate honoring Lawrence Welk or declaring June 30th "National Boston Creme Pie Day".

But when they miss votes on public policy, I get pretty torqued off.

If you click on the url in the first post, it'll give you the full list of Senators ranked in order of % of votes missed.  If you click on a particular name it'll take you to their profile, and then scroll down to the sub-heading 'Missed Votes', and then the link 'See a list of his/her missed votes since 1991'.

[opebo]

McCain isn't seriously skipping all these votes mostly for his two low-stress events per day, which are mostly fundraisers? 

He's very old, very feeble, very weak.

[WalterMitty]

im shcoked that johnson is running for relection.

it is obvious his health isnt up to the task.

[Joe Republic]

im shcoked that johnson is running for relection.

it is obvious his health isnt up to the task.

How do you figure?  Since returning to work on September 5th last year, he hasn't missed a single floor vote.