Idaho ranks 54th in power

Republicans in Idaho are full of swagger - and why not, given the fact Democrats hold no statewide offices and little sway in the Statehouse?

Let's just say things couldn't be more different in the nation's capital, where Idaho's all-GOP delegation ranks 54 in the nonpartisan Congress.org website. We rank below American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Only Puerto Rico - with its lone non-voting Republican delegate - is lower.

Click here and scroll down to look at the map. See the two states in white, Louisiana and Idaho? Our delegation has a power score of 11.39, lowest among the 50 states. Louisiana's rankings are artificially low due to its being home to William "Cold Hard Cash" Jefferson, the lowest-ranked legislator and the only one with a negative score.

In the full list of rankings, Sen. Larry Craig fares best, ranking 61 out of 100 senators. Mike Crapo is at 66 in the Senate. In the House, 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson ranks 318, down from 68 last year. Of course, all three incumbents saw their political stock crash when Democrats took over in January. Freshman Bill Sali is at a lowly 423 in the House, the main reason Idaho ranks 54. Based on the freshman Democrats' rankings, Larry Grant would've ranked about 100 places higher had he beat Sali. Suffice it to say, he would have singlehandedly pulled Idaho out of the power basement.

Comments

[Julie in Boise]

It's also interesting to note that one of Sali's fellow cellar-dwellers is Tim Walberg of Michigan. Both were backed by the free-market-uber-alles group Club for Growth.

Click my name for a blog that is tracking Walberg in Congress.

Of course, Michigan has more seats in Congress than Idaho, many of 'em held by Democrats, so Walberg won't drag down his state like Sali will.

[Irwin Horowitz]

Well, at least we're higher ranked than Puerto Rico! That's quite an accomplishment (note tongue planted deep inside cheek).