Data Mining the US Senate Votes

AJ writes "We used some old and new data mining techniques to see what was happening in the US Senate in 2003. Among other things, we identified the 'social' network of similarities between senators, how influential is each senator and each state, and a 3D VRML view of the Senate. You will be able to check whether Senator Kerry was a centrist or a liberal, and who is acting more cohesively, the Democrats or the Republicans. We provide our data and the source of all our analysis software (Orange and MPCA, both under GPL)."

Comments

Re:What is Kerry?

[SPBesui]

Apparently not:

http://www.ailab.si.nyud.net:8090/aleks/politics/m etric_scaling.htm

Scroll to the bottom:

The issue of John Kerry:

National Journal claimed that Kerry is an extreme liberal. This was disputed by many, including Kerry himself. Poole claims that Kerry is liberal but not extreme [link, link], Clinton, Jackman & Rivers say that it's hard to say due to his absenteeism but also that Kerry is not extreme [PDF link].

However, one should interpret "Not Voting" as letting the majority vote for you. Since the majority is Republican, the fact that Kerry often did not vote means that he is effectively the most central of all Democrats, based on all the votes cast in 2003.

Cost Effective?

[4of12]

So, suppose you happened to be a lobbyist and wanted to get the most bang for your buck in terms of legislation?

Who's your man and who should you avoid?

(And conversely, if you're paying with votes instead of dollars.)

IP Score

[Free_Trial_Thinking]

My IP Score Idea:

A simple thing that an organization like EFF or Downhill battle could do is to look over these voting records and create a simple "IP score" or "Electronic Freedom score" from the voting records.

That way people could look up the issues they care about most and see how the candidates 'score' against each other.

Scores are easy ways to summarize large amounts of information and would allow everyone to see how congress people are doing on important issues. Obviously almost no one is going to pour over years of voting records, but with voting scores created from the records, it would be easy for anyone to quickly access how their representatives are doing on issues.

I see this article/project as a first step in that direction. I think adoption of this concept by large political organizations could popularize it quickly and give it more legitimacy. Wouldn't it be nice if every senator had to worry about his IP score falling?

Re:Article only looks at 2003

[fmaxwell]

He has an established liberal voting record that is only obscured in this study due to his absence during the election campaign.

Good. I want a liberal President. I don't know how anyone managed to equate "liberal" with "bad", but they need their heads examined. Liberals are why women and black people can vote, why there aren't separate bathrooms for "colored" people, why women can join the military, why sexual harassment in the workplace isn't legal, why handicapped people have access to public buildings, why the elderly poor can get Medicare, and why someone who loses their job can get unemployment. How the hell did we ever go from the liberal optimism of the '60s to the conservative fear mongering and negativity that we have today?

Re:The true liberal

[Bravo_Two_Zero]

Er, the Sierra Club gets trotted out a lot as a "liberal" organization. So does Peta. Neither have ever struck me as "liberal" in the sense that all which leans left is not all that is liberal. It's a special interest group that tries hard to attract those of a left-leaning persuasion. There are plenty of left-leaning authoritarians. That's antithetical to the real "liberal" mindset. Neither really compares to the ACLU, which I'd call a genuine "liberal" organization based on the organization's aspoused philosophy (they filed an amicus brief on behalf of Jerry Falwell).

On the flip, the Christian Coalition gets the same rap. They aren't a conservative organization. They are a religious special interest group who tries to attract right-leaning, like-minded Christians. But the core CC ideals are not "conservative" in the sense of Goldwater conservatism. They cover a much broader framework, though they may sometimes parallel them. On the other hand, the NRA is genuinely conservative in philosophy as well as sharply focused on a single issue.

Mention that you're a liberal in a CC meeting or at many of the "conservative" churches in may area, and you'll immediately be branded a heretic. No lie. Straight to hell. Spawn of Satan and all that lot. I've heard it, and I found it chilling, though I defend their right to say it. And, no, it isn't far afield of that politically correct nonsense that can be wielded to hold down other viewpoints.

But, mention that you're a conservative or a Republican to me, and (as long as you can maintain a reasoned and rational discourse) I'll call you the "loyal opposition" and buy you a beer. We have to go past the attempt to make the labels we hang on each other a "four letter word" sort of thing.