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Although he does not hold an official leadership position, Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.) is the second-most powerful Democrat in the upper chamber, according to new power rankings compiled by a government affairs company.
After Kennedy — who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — the next most powerful Democrats are Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.), according to Knowlegis, which released its Power Rankings report on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) ranks first in the Senate. The rankings are an annual attempt to quantify congressional influence.
On the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) ranks as the most powerful Democratic lawmaker, followed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (N.Y.), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (Mich.) and Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (Wis.).
Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.), the third-ranking member of the House Democratic leadership, is ranked as the 77th most powerful member of the chamber, behind Rep. Albert Wynn (Md.), No. 44, who lost in a Democratic primary last month, and other less-than-household names: Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), Lois Capps (Calif.), Darlene Hooley (Ore.), and Dan Boren (Okla.).
Clyburn’s ranking is sure to elicit the kind of grumbling that has come to be expected in the wake of the annual rankings. In 2006, a Republican aide criticized Knowlegis for ranking Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), then chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, as only the 32nd most powerful. Last year, aides muttered about Ruppersberger outranking House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). Knowlegis has since tinkered with its methodology.
Brad Fitch, the CEO of Knowlegis, said that his firm used a formula it developed with former congressional staffers and political scientists to measure lawmaker power. Each score is based on leadership and committee posts, influence and legislative activity during the past year. For the first time Knowlegis has also factored in lawmakers’ success in winning earmarks.
“We thought that that was a wonderful metric that we could use to measure a legislator’s performance on behalf of his or her constituencies,” Fitch said. “It is a measurable factor when you are talking about the number of earmarks and the dollar amount as a figure.”
Ruppersberger has dropped from 36th most powerful to 72nd, although he can find solace in still ranking five slots ahead of Clyburn.
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