A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Representative: Less than impressive. I disagree with the Representative ideologically but my main problem with the Representative is that the Representative self-marginalizes by being more of a rhetorical bomb thrower than an actual legislator.

Senator Durbin: Many Illinoisians like him because he is the Minority Whip and can therefore do things for the state. But I disagree with him ideologically and would vote against him on the basis of a difference of principles.

Senator Obama: It's hard to tell whether he will get down to the task of legislating and being a serious player on Capitol Hill or whether he is simply using the Senate as a launching pad. Ted Kennedy was forced to answer this dilemma by being a legislator when he got beaten for the Democratic nomination in 1980 and when he decided to pass over a Presidential run in 1984. Obama--like Hillary Clinton--has yet to decide whether he will be a legislator or whether he will use the Senate for bigger and better things. I am curious to see how Illinois will respond to him if he should run for re-election in 2010. He won because of star power and because Alan Keyes was a horrible candidate for Republicans. But in 2010, southern Illinois--which has a lot of Republicans--might be less taken with him than they were last year.

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." --Friedrich Nietzsche

Randy "Duke" Cunningham (California 50th district) is probably going to be indicted for bribery. -- Steven Den Beste

To answer my own question....

Currently my Congressman is freshman Tom Price, a doctor who will spend most of his time on doctor's issues.  He ran a canny campaign to get elected (full disclosure:  I did volunteer work for one of the candidates he defeated in the GOP primary), but typically Congressmen just arriving in Washington take a little while to get set up.  So it's too early to say if Price will make an impression or not.

A mid-term redistricting plan insisted on by Republicans in the Georgia legislature will at some point place me in the district of Phil Gingrey, another Republican and another doctor, now in his second term.  Gingrey reminds me of a younger Wayne Newton.  He is a zealous purveyor of the GOP party line, especially anxious to demonstrate to local evangelicals that he is one of them.  He has not shown evident ability to do more than that to this point.

I did volunteer work for Saxby Chambliss in the fall of 2002, because he was the Republican candidate.  I thought then that Chambliss was just a guy, and I still do. 

I had greater expectations for Johnny Isakson (for whom I also did some volunteeer work last fall).  To date Isakson has been a major disappointment.  Though elected a Senator, he still acts like a Congressman:  loyally echoing the White House line, praising the troops, defending federal spending in Georgia, and otherwise keeping himself more or less invisible.  He champions no ideas and fights no battles.

I'd be glad to have Isakson as a next-door neighbor, but at this rate when he finally leaves the Senate some years hence, no one will know he was ever there.

It is embarassing to have Barbara Boxer as a senator. She has such a penchant for emotional demagoguery. And her staff can't answer a straight question from constituents, either. Her touchy-feely written communications are usually consistent with her televised comments, though the opportunity for editing makes them more sensible that what she says on TV. Diane Feinstein at least appears to think about important issues in some depth, without slipping into high drama at every opportunity. But I would prefer someone more aligned with my own views.

My Congresman is John Lewis (5th District, Ga, Dem.), who takes positions way to the left of mine, but seems to to be an honorable and decent man. I think he has been too willing in recent years to lend his reputation and gravitas to the Loony Left wing on certain issues. I could not tell you what projects and money Lewis has brought to his district. I am sure the local Atlanta politicians could. I have had no occasion to use constituent services.

I am eternally grateful that I missed Cythia McKinney's district by a couple of blocks.

The two Georgia senators have yet to impress me. I really regret my vote for Saxby Chambliss, given the way the GOP in general has refused to curb spending.

I'm a libertarian living in Northern California. For all practical purposes, I don't have any representation. "My" senators and representatives are all Democrats who have no chance of winning my vote and didn't need it anyway, so they have no incentive to listen to me.

Which is a big reason why I keep espousing Proportional Representation.