Elections/Legislation

November 2006 State Election results - broken down into ward, city, state comparisions

Knowlegis rated each current Member of Congress on 15 criteria that demonstrated power and the ability to be effective in Congress in 2005. This resulted in a Power Score that ranked members for overall power in each chamber of Congress. How powerful are those who represent you in Congress? Power is often hard to define, but for Congress it boils down to how effective one is at advancing an agenda, whether it is a personal agenda, party agenda or district or state agenda. Much of the power in Congress derives from tenure or years in Congress, which drive assignment to key committees (and eventually status as chair or ranking member). But years of service in Congress does not automatically equate to power as some long term members have very little power while freshmen can sometimes be effective or powerful right out of the starting gate.

Power Rankings Criteria

Knowlegis project team identified 15 characteristics of power. These characteristics were then measured and weighted to determine the relative power demonstrated by Members of Congress in 2005. We grouped those characteristics into three broad categories.

1) Position: How much power could the legislator wield through his/her position in the Congress by virtue of tenure, committee assignments or leadership position? This Power Category included weightings for all committees, subcommittees, and leadership positions, taking into consideration majority or minority party status of the member.

2) Influence: How much power did the legislator demonstrate to influence the congressional agenda or outcome of votes through the media, congressional caucuses or money contributed to other Members of Congress by his or her campaign committees or leadership PACs?

3) Legislative Activity: How much power did the legislator demonstrate through the passage of legislation or shaping legislation through amendments? The team eliminated from that data items which did not substantially change the bill or existing law. These included amendments dealing with technical changes or bills of a ceremonial or commemorative nature such as naming of post offices or other public buildings, or non-binding resolutions that expressed the "sense of the Congress."

In addition, the project team recognized that Members of Congress can exert or possess power that can’t be measured by these standard measures. Therefore, we created the "Sizzle/Fizzle" factor. For example, Sizzle factors can include a legislator’s unique background and experience (Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)) or relationships (Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)) or newfound popularity (Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)) that somehow adds weight to their power that is not scored in the other categories. In contrast, Fizzle factors can be applied to legislators who have seen their power diminish during the year, despite their position, due to scandal or other factors that impair the ability of the member to be effective. This was the only subjective criteria and was not weighted heavily in the overall ratings.

Missouri Rankings

State Delegation Average Score: 17.78

State Rank: 34

Senate:
Name	Rank in State	Score	Rank in Senate
Sen. Bond (R-MO)	1	40.25	30
Sen. Talent (R-MO)	2	24.65	72
House:
Name	Rank in State	Score	Rank in House
Rep. Blunt (R-MO-7)	1	33.37	19
Rep. Skelton (D-MO-4)	2	20.88	91
Rep. Hulshof (R-MO-9)	3	19.50	106
Rep. Emerson (R-MO-8)	4	15.04	203
Rep. Akin (R-MO-2)	5	14.00	235
Rep. Graves (R-MO-6)	6	13.37	251
Rep. Clay (D-MO-1)	7	6.87	375
Rep. Carnahan (D-MO-3)	8	4.50	426
Rep. Cleaver (D-MO-5)	9	3.12	435