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McCain Skipping Most Votes Among '08 Senators: Only 3 In Last Month
Though most of them flew cross-country last week to cast key votes on Iraq, the Senators doubling as White House hopefuls haven't spent much time in Congress lately -- and the chamber is poised to be an even less familiar place to them come December.
As one Republican leadership aide put it: "The December legislative calendar will look like Swiss cheese because we're going to have to work around the candidates' schedules."
In the past month alone, the five Senate presidential candidates each have earned the distinction of missing more votes than they've made. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lapped the field, having voted just three times since Oct. 23 -- twice on the narrowly approved nomination of Leslie Southwick to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and once against cloture on the State Children's Health Insurance Program bill.
The four Democrats have done only marginally better than McCain, with their numbers padded after taking the red-eye after Thursday's Las Vegas debate to catch a trio of Senate votes Friday morning. Two of those votes centered on funding for the Iraq War, while the third sought to close off debate on the pending farm bill (critical to first-caucus-state Iowans).
Still, the bragging rights for Democrats seem to stop there. Based on information compiled on a washingtonpost.com database, Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) cast just five -- or 22 percent -- of the 23 votes in the past four weeks; Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has showed up for six of the 23 roll calls -- 26 percent -- and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has made seven, or 30 percent, of the votes.
Top among them is Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.), who has made nine of 23 votes in the past month, or 39 percent.
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Roll Call | November 19, 2007 09:27 AM