RALEIGH—Barack Obama visited North Carolina today to speak to voters about the economy.  Unfortunately, Obama has consistently received failing grades from taxpayer watchdog groups during his short career in the U.S. Senate.

The Club For Growth

Obama received a 7% rating on his 2006 Congressional Scorecard.  (http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/03/the_2006_congressional_scoreca_1.php)

Obama received a 0% rating on his 2005 Congressional Scorecard ranking him dead last among his colleagues in the Senate.  (http://www.citizensclubforgrowth.org/2006/07/the_2005_congressional_scoreca_1.php)

Obama received a 33% rating on his 2007 Senate RePORK Card while Senator McCain scored 100%.  (http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/11/the_clubs_2007_senate_repork_c.php)

Council For Citizens Against Government Waste

Obama received a lifetime 22% rating ranking him as “unfriendly” to taxpayers. (http://www.cagw.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=109&repId=25424&session_num=0&page=legScore)

National Taxpayers Union

Obama received a 16% “F” rating for 2006 from NTU.  Senator McCain scored an 88% “A” grade.  (http://www.ntu.org/misc_items/rating/VS_2006.pdf)

Americans For Tax Reform

 Obama scored a 15% rating from the 2006 ATR ratings.  (http://www.atr.org/national/ratings/109th-2/2006Senatevotes-prelim.pdf)

In 2005, Obama scored a 0% rating giving him a lifetime rating of 7.5%.  (http://www.atr.org/national/ratings/2008candidateratings.html)

Chairman Linda Daves, North Carolina Republican Party, made the following statement:

“Strip away the grand rhetoric and grandiose campaign rallies and Barack Obama is an ordinary, uninteresting liberal.  He has never seen a problem that he doesn’t believe more government can’t solve.  He has never seen a government program unworthy of funding by a tax increase.  Yes, Obama claims he will only raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.  However, he has already shown by his vote for the Democrat budget proposal in the Senate that he is willing to increase taxes on individuals earning as little as $31,850 and couples earning just $63,700.  Either Barack Obama has quite a different definition of ‘wealthy’ than the rest of us or his policies do not match his rhetoric.”

###