Mid-term report cards are out by the Drum Major Institute, a progressive, left-leaning, think tank that purports to represent the interests and issues of the illustrious middle class.The full scorecard is available here, and the entire report in PDF format is here.
The think tank (again, progressive) focused on Congressional performance in 13 allegedly middle-class issues, ranging from funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to the U.S.-Peru Free Trade proposal. A full FAQ on how the “grades” came to be is here.
Now, for what you probably want to know first: how Illinois’ and Missouri’s delegations rated.
Illinois
| Congressperson | Party | 2007 Grade | 2008 YTD Score |
| Sen. Dick Durbin | D | A | 100 |
| Sen. Barack Obama | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Melissa Bean (8th) | D | C | 100 |
| Rep. Judy Biggert (13th) | R | F | 60 |
| Rep. Jerry Costello (12th) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Danny Davis (7th) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Rahm Emanuel (5th) | D | A | 100 |
| Rep. Luis Gutierrez (4th) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Phil Hare (17th) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Jesse Jackson (2nd) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Timothy Johnson (15th) | R | C | 80 |
| Rep. Mark Kirk (10th) | R | C | 100 |
| Rep. Ray LaHood (18th) | R | C | 100 |
| Rep. Daniel Lipinski (3rd) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Donald Manzullo (16th) | R | F | 40 |
| Rep. Peter Roskam (6th) | R | F | 40 |
| Rep. Bobby Rush (1st) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. Janice Schakowsky (9th) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. John Shimkus (19th) | R | F | 40 |
| Rep. Gerald Weller (11th) | R | F | 40 |
Missouri
| Congressperson | Party | 2007 Grade | 2008 YTD Score |
| Sen. Christopher Bond | R | F | 50 |
| Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | B | 83 |
| Rep. Todd W. Akin (2nd) | R | F | 20 |
| Rep. Roy Blunt (7th) | R | F | 20 |
| Rep. Russ Carnahan (3rd) | D | A+ | 100 |
| Rep. William Lacy Clay (1st) | D | A | 100 |
| Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (5th) | D | A | 100 |
| Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (8th) | R | C | 80 |
| Rep. Samuel Graves (6th) | R | F | 40 |
| Rep. Kenny Hulshof (9th) | R | F | 40 |
| Rep. Ike Skelton (4th) | D | A | 100 |
It’s probably obvious by now — and it’s true of the scorecard for all of Congress — that Democrats overwhelmingly score “better” which would seem to reflect the political tilt of the think tank. Hence, maybe the most illuminating scores are those on the margins: Democrats who didn’t rate an A and Republicans who did better than F.
With that in mind, here’s a question: What does this ranking say about Democrats Bean and McCaskill as well as Republicans Johnson, Kirk, LaHood and Emerson?
Also, for what it’s worth: Both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton scored an A+ for 2007 and have ratings of 100 so far this year. Sen. John McCain was given an incomplete last year (he missed too many votes) and so far is holding at 50 in ‘08.