Please Note: This is the final list of 1998 Senate Party-Opposition Scores through Wednesday, October 21, 1998 (314 possible votes).

C.O.P. has created the most accurate measurement of the number of times a member has voted against that member's party-position. Excluded from consideration were votes without opposition, votes where both parties had the same position, votes where a Senator's party did not register a position, and votes where an individual did not vote. C.O.P. considers a party to have taken a position on a vote when 2/3 of its voting members vote the same way. Therefore, the number in the "Votes Against" column represent the number of times a member has voted against 2/3 of his/her party's members. The number in the "Possible Votes" column equals the number of possible votes that member could have voted in support of the party. "Percent Opposition" is the percentage of the time the member opposed 2/3 of the party (or Votes Against divided by Possible votes expressed as a percent). Party Support scores are simply the difference between the party opposition percent and 100%.

C.O.P. does not draw conclusions from this data. Some members may be proud of their high party support while others may view their high party opposition scores as an asset. Viewers of this data may also regard the information positively or negatively. Our purpose is to provide voters with another piece of meaningful information.

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