Card image cap

Brian Baird's Ratings and Endorsements on Issue: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

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.

100%
2004
96%
2009
78
2008
89
2007
50%
2006
63%
2005
71%
2004
83%
2003
25%
2006-2012
25%
2006-2012
90%
2007-2008
90%
2007-2008
88%
2005-2006
88%
2005-2006
88%
2003-2004
88%
2003-2004
83%
2001-2002
83%
2001-2002
83%
2001
100%
1999-2000
100%
1999-2000
100%
1999
100%
2007
100%
2007
100%
2007
100%
2007
71%
2005-2010
100%
2007
82%
2001-2002
26%
2009
22%
2007
24%
2007
38%
2005
55%
2005
21%
2005
43%
2004
45
2003
45
2003
45
2003
44
2002
44
2002
44
2002
31%
2001
32%
2000
arrow_upward