Vitter most conservative of GOP freshmen senators!

This will come as a bit of a surprise to some, as Senators DeMint and Coburn have been touted in many circles as the most conservative, especially the Club for Growth. But hey, it's great company. This story is actually two months old, but I have been meaning to post it.

The Senate's seven freshman Republicans, whom the GOP refers to as the Magnificent Seven, are a pretty conservative group. Turns out, according to National Journal, Louisiana's David Vitter is the most conservative of the bunch. The magazine's survey is based on voting records compiled by six of the freshmen when they served in the House, although their years of service differ. Former Bush housing secretary Mel Martinez, R-Fla., never served in the House and therefore isn't included in the survey, although few considered him in the running for the group's most conservative. According to National Journal, Vitter compiled a cumulative conservative voting record of 89.2 percent, meaning he took the "conservative" option on nearly 90 percent of the votes cast during his five-year House career. No. 2 was Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who scored a conservative voting mark of 88.6 percent, followed by Richard Burr, R-N.C., 76.6 percent; Tom Coburn, R-Okla., 75.5 percent; Jim Thune, R-S.D., 74.6 percent; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., 73.1 percent. During his Senate campaign, Vitter tried to modify his image by putting an emphasis on legislation not normally seen as conservative causes, mainly legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada and other industrialized nations.

From The Times Picayune