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Election 2006: How tech-friendly are the winners?

CNET News.com recently rated each member of Congress on how tech-friendly they are. So how did our scorecard winners and losers do?

Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
Declan McCullagh
2 min read
By now we know the general shape of Tuesday's election returns: the Democrats have seized the U.S. House of Representatives and stand a reasonable chance of taking over the U.S. Senate as well.

But just how tech-friendly were the winners? Last week, CNET News.com published a scorecard reviewing the voting record of every member of the U.S. Congress and awarding a score between 0 and 100 to each politician.

Virginia's George Allen was the best-scoring Republican in the Senate, according to the technology votes we had available to rank. But Allen is narrowly trailing Democratic challenger Jim Webb by around 7,300 votes, according to the state's unofficial results. (The outcome of that race, in fact, will determine control of the Senate.)

Ohio's Mike DeWine had the opposite problem: He was tied for the worst Republican score in the Senate. He lost his seat on Tuesday to Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown.

Keep reading for the rest of the results.


Highest-scoring Senate Democrat:
Maria Cantwell (WA): 67 percent scorecard rating
Won with 58 percent of the vote

Highest-scoring Senate Republican:
George Allen (VA): 78 percent scorecard rating
No clear winner yet, with Democrat Jim Webb about 7,300 votes ahead

Lowest-scoring Senate Democrat:
Daniel Akaka (HI): 14 percent scorecard rating
Won with 61 percent of the vote

Lowest-scoring Senate Republicans:
Mike DeWine (OH): 25 percent scorecard rating
Lost to Democrat Sherrod Brown with 44 percent of the vote

Richard Shelby (AL): 25 percent scorecard rating
Not up for re-election this year

Highest-scoring House Democrats:
Zoe Lofgren (CA): 70 percent scorecard rating
Won with 73 percent of the vote

Ellen Tauscher (CA): 70 percent scorecard rating
Won with 67 percent of the vote

Highest-scoring House Republican:
Ron Paul (TX): 80 percent scorecard rating
Won with 60 percent of the vote

Lowest-scoring House Democrats:
John Barrow (GA): 25 percent scorecard rating
Won with 51 percent of the vote

John Salazar (CO): 25 percent scorecard rating
Won with 61 percent of the vote

Pete Visclosky (IN): 25 percent scorecard rating
Won with 70 percent of the vote

Lowest-scoring House Republicans: Geoff Davis (KY): 13 percent scorecard rating
Won with 51 percent of the vote

Lynn Westmoreland (GA): 13 percent scorecard rating
Won with 67 percent of the vote