More facts I like

We've heard a lot lately about how ineffective Barack Obama has been in his three years in the U.S. Senate, and some little bon mots about how he's better at writing memoirs than legislation. So I thought a little reality might be in order.

Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004, and began his term in January, 2005. Eight others joined the Senate at the same time. Let's compare the supposedly absentee lightweight Obama with his peers:

Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
Bills sponsored: 65; co-sponsored: 364; sponsored bills passed: 0

David Vitter (R-Louisiana)
Bills sponsored: 52; co-sponsored: 186; sponsored bills passed: 1

Ken Salazar (D-Colorado)
Bills sponsored: 63; co-sponsored: 276; sponsored bills passed: 0

Mel Martinez (R-Florida)
Bills sponsored: 21; co-sponsored: 202; sponsored bills passed: 0

John Isakson (R-Georgia)
Bills sponsored: 25; co-sponsored: 300; sponsored bills passed: 1

Richard Burr (R-North Carolina)
Bills sponsored: 20; co-sponsored: 179; sponsored bills passed: 1

Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma)
Bills sponsored: 11; co-sponsored: 136; sponsored bills passed: 0

Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina)
Bills sponsored: 24; co-sponsored: 99; sponsored bills passed: 0

John Thune (R-South Dakota)
Bills sponsored: 27; co-sponsored: 145; sponsored bills passed: 2

Wow. It actually looks like Obama sponsored more bills than any of his fellow first-term senators, closely followed by the only other Democrat to enter the Senate that year. If we're going to use the introduction of legislation to committee (where the vast, vast majority of bills die), Obama makes the other frosh look like slackers. Of course, any yahoo can submit a bill - the real trick is getting legislation out of committee, through debate and up for a vote. And by that measure, Obama's right where you'd expect a first-term senator to be.

I also think this rundown of Senate attendance during the last two years is interesting - especially the guy who's first on the list by an insanely large margin, followed at a distance by Obama and the pack of other Senate Dems who ran for president this year.