January 15, 2008

Somewhere, Woody Allen is smiling...

As the great political sage, Woody Allen, once said: "Ninety per cent of life is showing up." *

Nobody can fault Wisconsin's two senators, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, on that count: Both showed up for every one of the Senate's 442 votes in 2007. Wisconsin and Maine are the only two states where both senators had perfect voting attendance records.

(OK, you Republican nay-sayers with your cavils about a do-nothing Congress: how they voted is important, too. But at the very least our guys showed up, giving us at the minimum what we paid for.)

Feingold and Kohl were two of only ten U.S. Senators who did not miss a single vote during the first session of the 110th Congress. The average senator made about 420 of the 442 votes cast in 2007.

“Wisconsinites depend on the people they elect to show up and represent Wisconsin in the Senate to the best of their ability,” said Feingold, who has only missed ten votes in his 15 years as a senator, an attendance record of 99.81 percent.

“I take my responsibilities as a Senator seriously and know Wisconsinites expect me to ensure their voice be consistently heard in our nation’s capital,” Kohl said.

The other eight senators with nothing better to do than show up and vote (not a presidential candidate among 'em) were: Max Baucus (D-MT), Bob Casey (D-PA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Harry Reid (D-NV), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

* OK, maybe Woody said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” The mighty internet waffles. but the point is the same.

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