National Journal rankings -- Ridenbaugh

Yesterday, Ridenbaugh Press posted National Journal's annual list ranking the most liberal to conservative members of both houses of Congress, for the three Pacific Northwest states. The Senate, with lower numbers being most liberal:

Patty Murray [D-WA] 17th
Ron Wyden [D-OR] 18th
Maria Cantwell [D-WA] 28th
Gordon Smith [R-OR] 49th
Larry Craig [R-ID] 60th
Mike Cray-poe [R-ID] 75th

This appears pretty accurate. Cantwell is generally in the center of her party's caucus, Gordon Smith is among the most lovably moderate members of the Senate, and Idaho's two GOP members are surprisingly reasonable given their geography. For the House:

Jim McDermott [D-WA] 9th
Earl Blumenauer [D-OR] 46th
Jay Inslee [D-WA] 88th
Adam Smith [D-WA] 123rd
Peter DeFazio [D-OR] 127th
Rick Larsen [D-WA] 131st
Brian Baird [D-WA] 132nd
David Wu [D-OR] 135th
Norm Dicks [D-WA] 138th
Darlene Hooley [D-OR] 142nd
Butch Otter [R-ID] 224th
Dave Reichert [R-WA] 229th
Mike Simpson [R-ID] 303rd
Greg Walden [R-OR] 313th
Doc Hastings [R-WA] 337th
Cathy McMorris [R-WA] 352nd

This also appears quite accurate. McDermott is among the most nuttily left members of the House (no brainer), and save for Jay Inslee, the rest of the state's Democratic House delegation really don't differ that much ideologically. Butch Otter (who will continue the Dirk Kempthorne tradition of reasonable GOP Idaho governors) and Dave Reichert are in the center of the entire body ideologically, with eastern WA's representatives proving they are more right-wing than Idaho's. That is nothing to be proud of, though I'm quite sure whoever replaces Otter in Congress will be closer to the nutty Helen Chenoweth wing of the Idaho GOP than the moderately conservative Simpson/Otter wing. On a side note, it was a tad surprising to see Darlene Hooley the most conservative of Oregon's Democratic delegation.