Card image cap

Barbara Leff's Ratings and Endorsements

Vote Smart displays all known interest group ratings for each candidate and official, regardless of issue or bias.

Keep in mind that ratings done by special interest groups often do not represent a non-partisan stance. In addition, some groups select votes that tend to favor members of one political party over another, rather than choosing votes based solely on issue concerns. Nevertheless, they can be invaluable in showing where an incumbent has stood on a series of votes in the past one or two years, especially when ratings by groups on all sides of an issue are compared. Website links, if available, and descriptions of the organizations offering performance evaluations are accessible by clicking on the name of the group.

With rare exceptions, Vote Smart displays interest group ratings as a 0-100 percentage. While many interest groups use percentages as ratings to begin with, please note that Vote Smart has translated some ratings to a percentage from a different rating system for consistency and ease in understanding. Please visit the group's website, email us at ratings@votesmart.org or call our Voter Information Hotline at 1-888-VOTESMART for more specific information.

61%
2010
58%
2010
76%
2010
39%
2010
42%
2009
64%
2009
63%
2009
83%
2009
59%
2009
56%
2008
44%
2008
48%
2008
79%
2008
56
2008
41%
2007
54%
2006
61%
2005
59%
2004
61%
2003
100%
2009
100%
2008
100%
2008
95%
2006
95%
2006
100%
2005
100%
2005
100%
2004
100%
2004
arrow_upward