Who are the most intriguing members of Congress?
One way to answer that question might be to look for the members of Congress most commonly mentioned in the newspapers or on TV, but that only tells us who journalists find to be compelling, either because of what those members of Congress do or perhaps because of how often they send out convertible press releases. But Americans outside of professional journalism just might be looking for something else. The following are the members of Congress whose profile pages on That’s My Congress were most often read during each month of 2009:
Dec. 2009: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Nov. 2009: Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida
Oct. 2009: Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida
Sep. 2009: Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina
Aug. 2009: Rep. Jane Harman of California
Jul. 2009: Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida
Jun. 2009: Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida
May 2009: Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida
Apr. 2009: Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania
Mar. 2009: Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut
Feb. 2009: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Jan. 2009: Sen. Edward Kennedy Massachusetts
Some of these names you might recognize from the big political spectacles of the year (Edward Kennedy’s death, Kirsten Gillibrand’s ascension, Joe Wilson’s “You Lie!”). Other names appear to be arising out of more organically home-grown interest.