Stevens: Alaska's Most Reliable Voter

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is not only the longest-serving Senate Republican, as Paul Kane reports, but also one of its more dependable voters.

In fact, Stevens, 83, has by far the best attendance record among Alaska's three-person delegation since 1991 (GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski has missed fewer votes, but she has been in office only since late 2002, and since the 108th Congress has missed more votes than Stevens).

Here's the breakdown: since the 102nd Congress, Stevens has missed a total of 159 votes, while former Sen. Frank Murkowski (Lisa's father) and his daughter have missed a total of 283 votes. Neither of those are even close to Alaska's lone representative, Republican Don Young, who has missed 1,103 votes during that period (Young missed 209 votes in the 105th Congress and 181 more in the 107th). In Young's defense, he has missed only two votes in the current Congress, less than either of his colleagues.

Congress	Member	Missed Votes	Percentage
110	Ted Stevens	11	8.7%
110	Lisa Murkowski	5	4%
110	Don Young	2	0.9%
109	Ted Stevens	8	1.2%
109	Lisa Murkowski	25	3.9%
109	Don Young	100	8.3%
108	Ted Stevens	4	0.6%
108	Lisa Murkowski	37	5.5%
108	Don Young	155	12.7%
107	Ted Stevens	50	7.9%
107	Frank Murkowski	49	7.7%
107	Don Young	181	18.2%
106	Ted Stevens	5	0.7%
106	Frank Murkowski	29	4.3%
106	Don Young	165	13.6%
105	Ted Stevens	5	0.8%
105	Frank Murkowski	23	3.8%
105	Don Young	209	17.6%
104	Ted Stevens	29	3.2%
104	Frank Murkowski	36	3.9%
104	Don Young	127	9.5%
103	Ted Stevens	33	4.6%
103	Frank Murkowski	56	7.7%
103	Don Young	92	8.2%
102	Ted Stevens	14	2.5%
102	Frank Murkowski	23	4.2%
102	Don Young	72	7.7%

Explore more voting patterns in washingtonpost.com's Congressional Votes Database.

By | April 13, 2007; 6:00 AM ET
Categories: Voting
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Stevens: Alaska's Most Reliable Voter