New SurveyUSA Senator Rankings

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The ME Senators are definitely going strong, but Obama is a good position. While she doesn't come close to Obama's ratings, Hilliary does have an 80-14 rating amoung blacks. The bottom 5 are Republicans, 4 of them with negative margins, but hey, they all have better ratings than Bush.


2006 Senator ratings ranked

Those no votes for the Iraq war don't seem to have hurt Byrd or Conrad.

GOP - ME Snowe 77-17
Dem - DE Carper 66-22
Dem - CT Lieberman 68-24
Dem - ND Conrad 69-25
I - VT Jeffords 64-25 retiring
Dem - WV Byrd 65-29
Den - NE Ben Nelson 63-27
GOP - WY Thomas 60-25
Dem - NM Bingaman 59-26
GOP - IN Lugar 59-27
GOP - TX Hutchison  57-29
Dem - MA Kennedy 61-33
GOP - MS Lott 60-32
Dem - NY Clinton 61-35
Dem - HI - Akaka 56-32
GOP - NV Ensign 53-31
GOP - UT Hatch 55-33
Dem - WI Kohl 55-33
Dem - CA Feinstein 54-34
Dem - MD Sarbanes 50-30 retiring
GOP - VA Allen 52-33
GOP - RI Chafee 55-37
Dem - FL Bill Nelson 48-31
GOP - AZ Kyl 49-33
Dem - WA Cantwell 47-37
GOP - MO Talent 48-39
GOP - TN Frist 49-41 retiring
Dem - MI Stabenow 46-38
Dem - MN Dayton 46-39 retiring
GOP - MT Burns 48-42
Dem - NJ Corzine 46-40 probably leaving
GOP - OH Dewine 42-43
GOP - PA Senatorm 42-46

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Wow, what happened to ... Coburn?

He's too moderate for the state.

That's why 54% of moderates disapprove and 33% approve.

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I like those Santorum and DeWine numbers.  Nice to see Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan doing well.

Santorum's ratings seem to have collapsed in Western PA. Any reason for this?

Cyberschool scandal!

Could you explain that?

Here, brought to you by the magic that is Wikipedia:

In November 2004, a controversy erupted over education costs for the Senator's children. Santorum's legal address is in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, but he lives most of the year at his home in Leesburg, Virginia near Washington, DC. Santorum's five older children received education through the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School with 80% of tuition costs paid by the Penn Hills School District.

At a meeting in November 2004, the Penn Hills School District announced that it did not believe Santorum met the qualifications for residency status since he and his family spend most of the year in Virginia. They demanded repayment of tuition costs totaling $100,000.

Supporters of the Senator claim that the controversy is politically motivated as the school board is controlled by Democrats and Erin Vecchio, the school board member who first publicly raised the issue, is the chair of the local Democratic Party. They also claim that since Santorum votes in Penn Hills and pays property and school taxes there, he is entitled to the same privileges as any other Penn Hills resident.

After the controversy erupted, Santorum said he would make other arrangements for his children's education, but insists he does not owe the school board any back tuition. In early 2005, both sides agreed to work out a settlement outside the court system. A state appointed hearing officer set a deadline of May 9, 2005 for the parties to submit information relating to the case.

On July 8, 2005, a Pennsylvania state hearing officer ruled that the Penn Hills School District had not filed objections to Santorum's residency in a timely manner and dismissed the complaint, even though the district did follow the guidelines set by the hearing officer in May. Santorum hailed the ruling as a victory against what he termed "baseless and politically motivated charges." He told reporters, "No one's children -- and especially not small, school-age children -- should be used as pawns in the 'politics of personal destruction'."
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Santorum supporters will tell you that this was a cheap ploy by Democrats to make him look bad.

No, I'll tell you that, on the surface, it is a quite understanable mistake that the Democrats have blown up into being a "huge scandal".  Esspecially since Santorum paid the money back, in full, without major complaint.  Of course, this does nto mention that, regardless of his residence, he pays taxes for the school district.

Also, Democrats tried to take advantage of this by using another not-well-thought-out slogan "The third Senator from Vriginia".  Of course, this ignores that almost every Senator and Rep. lives in either Virginia or Maryland.

That's the first I'd heard that Senator Rick Santorum R-Virginia had paid back the money he took from Pennsylvania.