The CountSenate control · D 18% / R 82%Median seats 49D36 calls locked0 gradedBrier —
sleyor

Issue One · Vol. I — opinion that owes you a score

The CountThe Placement Scale

100 Left · 0 · 100 Right — with the ladder printed first

Everyone places candidates on a left-right line. Almost nobody publishes what the rungs are, so the number cannot be argued with, only believed. This scale inverts that: the nine concrete policies on each issue were written down before a single candidate was read, and placement is choosing the one the candidate's own words match. Resolution comes from printing more rungs — 44 of them sit between the round numbers, each a real position with its own statute — never from placing somebody “between” two rungs by feel. If you think a placement is wrong, you have everything you need to say exactly where.

100 Left0100 Right
Strong leftLeftCentre-leftNeutralCentre-rightRightStrong right

Figures are written as a number and a small-capital side — 100 Left at the far left, 0 at neutral, 100 Right at the far right. No minus sign: a minus reads as less, and neither end of this axis is less than the other.

The two rules that decide whether a scale is honest

Silence is not the centre

A candidate who has published nothing on health care is not a moderate on health care. They are unmeasured. Scales that quietly score silence as zero manufacture moderates out of empty campaign sites, and this race is full of them. Here, unaddressed headings are excluded from the arithmetic and printed underneath every candidate.

The zero rung is a real policy

Neutral on this scale means something somebody actually advocates — enforce the law as written, extend current rates, leave the structure alone. It never means "we could not tell". A middle rung that absorbs uncertainty is how a scale launders a guess into a measurement.

No overall placement is published for any candidate placed on fewer than 6 of 11 headings. On this board that currently withholds a number for every candidate in the field, because their campaigns have published almost no policy — which is a finding about the race, not a failure of the instrument.

Thin evidence widens the figure — it never moves itThree printed grades

A campaign that says one general thing has not placed itself near the centre; it has placed itself somewhere the record cannot pin down. Nudging such a placement inward would smuggle the centre back in as a hiding place, so the figure stays where the rung is and gets published wide instead. The grader picks one of three grades below and the width follows from it — nobody chooses a number.

Explicitpoint
Example at 25R, explicit

25 Right

The campaign states the policy in terms that match one rung and rule out both neighbours. Published as a point.

Adjacent±12
Example at 25R, adjacent

15 Right to 35 RightComputed 13R–37R

The statement matches a rung but omits an element that would distinguish it from one neighbour. Published as a band half a rung wide either side.

Thin±25
Example at 25R, thin

0 Neutral to 50 Right

A single general line of campaign copy, consistent with a rung and with the rung on each side of it. Published as a band a full rung wide either side.

Two resolutions, and the page says which is whichPublished on 5s · computed exact

The axis runs to 100 a side, but the rungs are 25 apart — so a published figure of 37 would be quoting a precision the ladder cannot supply. Published figures are put on the nearest 5, which is coarse enough that no digit outruns the evidence and fine enough that two different band edges do not collapse into the same number. The value the arithmetic actually produced is printed beside it wherever the rounding moved something, so the mean can be checked rather than taken on trust.

Published · 20 stops a side

15 Right to 35 Right

Every published figure sits on a 5-point stop. The ladder's finest real distinction is the 25 points between two printed rungs, so a figure carrying a digit finer than that would be claiming a measurement nobody took.

Computed · the desk's working

13R–37R

The unrounded value, shown beside any figure that moved when it was put on a stop. Rounding happens once, at the glass — aggregates are computed from unrounded parts, so a reader can redo the arithmetic and land on the same number.

The boardClass 2 · 3 November 2026

Placements read the ledger cells and nothing else, and the ledger cells rest only on each campaign's own material. The result is thin — deliberately so. A scale that produced confident numbers from these four campaign websites would be measuring the desk's assumptions, not the candidates.

Jon Ossoff

Democrat

No placement published

Placed on 5 of 11 headings. The floor for publishing an aggregate is 6, so no overall placement is given for this candidate.

Cost of living15 Left to 35 Left · Adjacent · Drafted Computed 13L–37L
Cost of living — 15L–35L

Caps on costs the federal government already buys — insulin at a stated price — plus fee and market enforcement. That is the 25L rung. The 50L rung additionally requires transfers such as an expanded child credit, which the campaign does not state; the 0 rung would require no caps at all.

Health care50 Left · Explicit · Drafted
Health care — 50L

Medicaid expansion in Georgia plus public drug-price action. That is the 50L rung as printed. The 25L rung is a time-limited subsidy extension without a federal expansion route; the 75L rung requires a public plan open to everyone, which the campaign does not state.

Immigration25 Left to 25 Right · Thin · Drafted
Immigration — 25L–25R

The campaign states border security work and no status route either way. The 0 rung is enforcement now with the status question left open — the only rung that does not read a position into silence. The 25L rung would require a stated route for people brought as children.

Abortion0 Neutral to 50 Left · Thin · Drafted
Abortion — 0–50L

Stated defence of freedom of choice, with no federal statute and no funding mechanism named. That is the 25L rung. The 50L rung requires pursuing federal legislation to restore the pre-2022 standard, which the campaign material on this pass does not state.

Spending and debt40 Left to 60 Left · Adjacent · Drafted Computed 38L–62L
Spending and debt — 40L–60L

Protecting the benefit programmes and strengthening one of them, with no cuts named and no offset conditions attached. That is the 50L rung's protect-and-find-savings-elsewhere position; the 25L rung would hold discretionary flat, which the campaign does not state.

Unscored — nothing stated (6)

Taxes · Energy · Guns · Trade · Elections · Georgia's industrial corridor

Buddy Carter

Republican

No placement published

Placed on 0 of 11 headings. The floor for publishing an aggregate is 6, so no overall placement is given for this candidate.

Unscored — nothing stated (11)

Cost of living · Taxes · Health care · Immigration · Energy · Abortion · Guns · Trade · Spending and debt · Elections · Georgia's industrial corridor

Mike Collins

Republican

No placement published

Placed on 2 of 11 headings. The floor for publishing an aggregate is 6, so no overall placement is given for this candidate.

Immigration50 Right · Explicit · Drafted
Immigration — 50R

The stated position is a removal statute keyed to criminal conviction. That is the 50R rung exactly. The 25R rung is asylum and expulsion authority without interior removal; the 75R rung requires removal beyond convictions and the ending of parole, neither of which the campaign site states.

Spending and debt0 Neutral to 50 Right · Thin · Drafted
Spending and debt — 0–50R

A stated record of eliminating bureaucracy and inefficiency, with no statutory caps and no structural change to benefit programmes. That is the 25R rung. The 50R rung requires caps as well as cuts, and 75R requires a commission empowered to reopen the programmes.

Unscored — nothing stated (9)

Cost of living · Taxes · Health care · Energy · Abortion · Guns · Trade · Elections · Georgia's industrial corridor

Derek Dooley

Republican

No placement published

Placed on 0 of 11 headings. The floor for publishing an aggregate is 6, so no overall placement is given for this candidate.

Unscored — nothing stated (11)

Cost of living · Taxes · Health care · Immigration · Energy · Abortion · Guns · Trade · Spending and debt · Elections · Georgia's industrial corridor

The ladders11 headings · 9 rungs each · 99 in all

This is the instrument. Read it before you read the placements, and judge the placements against it rather than against your own sense of where the middle is.

Each heading below shows where well-documented positions already in circulation fall on its ladder. This is a spacing check, not a scoreboard: if the rungs were badly placed, real positions would bunch at one end or vanish into the middle, and a reader could point at the row that proves it. No candidate on this board appears here — calibrating an instrument against the field it measures would make it circular. Placements of enacted law describe the law as passed, and are neither ratings of nor endorsements of anyone who voted for it.

Cost of living

What would they do about prices, wages and household costs?

  1. 100 LeftDirect price controls on essential goods, rent caps, and public provision where markets are judged to have failed.In practice The 1971 Economic Stabilization Act wage-and-price freeze; statutory national rent control.
  2. 75 LeftStanding federal price-gouging authority across essential sectors, plus national limits on annual rent increases.In practice The Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act; the 2024 federal cap on rent rises for corporate landlords.
  3. 50 LeftTargeted caps on specific costs — drugs, junk fees, housing — plus transfers such as an expanded child credit.In practice The Inflation Reduction Act's $35 insulin cap; the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit; the federal junk-fee rule.
  4. 25 LeftCaps confined to what the federal government already buys, plus antitrust and fee enforcement; no new transfers.In practice Medicare drug-price negotiation on its named list; the FTC junk-fee rule, with no broader price authority.
  5. 0 NeutralAntitrust enforcement and supply-side building, without price caps or new transfers.In practice The 2023 DOJ/FTC merger guidelines; federal permitting and housing-supply measures.
  6. 25 RightCosts met by building supply and repealing specific rules judged to raise prices; enforcement left intact.In practice The 2024 Energy Permitting Reform Act paired with targeted rescission of cost-raising rules.
  7. 50 RightLower costs by cutting federal spending, regulation and energy restrictions; no federal price intervention.In practice The 2025 deregulatory and energy executive orders; ten-for-one regulatory repeal.
  8. 75 RightRepeal the consumer subsidy programmes themselves, on the ground that federal demand support raises prices.In practice Repeal of the IRA consumer credits and of federal housing demand subsidies.
  9. 100 RightCosts are a monetary and spending problem only; the federal role is to withdraw from the sector entirely.In practice Audit-and-end-the-Fed proposals; abolition of federal housing and energy subsidy programmes.

Where real positions land

  • 50 LeftInflation Reduction Act, as enacted — Insulin capped at $35 for Medicare enrollees; out-of-pocket drug ceiling.
  • 0 Neutral2023 merger guidelines — Concentration addressed through enforcement, with no price ceilings.
  • 50 Right2025 deregulatory orders — Cost relief pursued through regulatory and energy withdrawal.

Taxes

Whose taxes go up, whose go down, and which provisions do they extend?

  1. 100 LeftNew wealth taxation, sharply higher top marginal and corporate rates, and taxation of unrealised gains.In practice The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act (2–3% wealth tax); the Billionaires Income Tax's mark-to-market treatment.
  2. 75 LeftA minimum tax on very large unrealised holdings and a restored estate tax, without an annual wealth levy.In practice The Billionaire Minimum Income Tax (25% floor above $100m); the estate tax returned to 2009 parameters.
  3. 50 LeftExtend lower rates below a stated income threshold, funded by higher rates on corporations and top earners.In practice The FY2025 President's Budget: no increase under $400,000, corporate rate to 28%.
  4. 25 LeftLet the top-bracket cut expire while extending the rest, with the corporate rate raised only into the low twenties.In practice Expiry of the 37% bracket's cut with the corporate rate set at 25%.
  5. 0 NeutralExtend current rates broadly and close specific loopholes to hold revenue roughly level.In practice Deficit-neutral extension paired with carried-interest and like-kind-exchange repeal.
  6. 25 RightMake the individual rates permanent while letting business preferences phase down as scheduled.In practice Permanent 2017 individual rates with bonus depreciation left on its statutory phase-down.
  7. 50 RightMake the 2017 rates permanent for everyone and oppose any increase in the corporate rate.In practice The 2025 reconciliation act making the 2017 individual rates permanent.
  8. 75 RightCut the corporate rate below current law, make full expensing permanent, and index gains to inflation.In practice Corporate rate to 15% with permanent 100% expensing; capital-gains indexation proposals.
  9. 100 RightReplace the income and payroll tax system outright, e.g. with a national consumption tax.In practice The FairTax Act (H.R.25): repeal of the income and payroll taxes and abolition of the IRS.

Where real positions land

  • 100 LeftUltra-Millionaire Tax Act — A 2% annual tax above $50m, 3% above $1bn.
  • 50 LeftFY2025 President's Budget — No new tax under $400,000; corporate rate raised to 28%.
  • 50 Right2025 reconciliation act — The 2017 individual rates made permanent; corporate rate held.
  • 100 RightFairTax Act — Income and payroll taxes repealed and replaced with a national sales tax.

Health care

Coverage, drug pricing, and the future of the exchanges.

  1. 100 LeftA single public plan covering everyone, replacing private insurance.In practice The Medicare for All Act, which ends duplicative private coverage.
  2. 75 LeftA public plan open to everyone with automatic enrolment and a lowered Medicare age; private cover retained.In practice Medicare for America; the Medicare at 60 Act.
  3. 50 LeftPermanent exchange subsidies, public drug-price negotiation, and federal routes to Medicaid expansion.In practice Permanent extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies; the IRA's Medicare drug-price negotiation.
  4. 25 LeftExtend the enhanced subsidies for a set number of years and close the coverage gap; no public plan.In practice A multi-year subsidy extension with a federal fallback plan for non-expansion states.
  5. 0 NeutralKeep the current structure; act on prices and transparency without changing coverage architecture.In practice The hospital and insurer price-transparency rules; surprise-billing enforcement.
  6. 25 RightKeep the ACA framework but let the enhanced subsidies lapse and widen non-exchange plan options.In practice Expiry of the enhanced subsidies alongside expanded association and short-term plans, without work requirements.
  7. 50 RightLet enhanced subsidies lapse, attach work requirements to Medicaid, and expand non-exchange plans.In practice Expiry of the enhanced subsidies at end-2025; Medicaid community-engagement waivers; expanded short-term plans.
  8. 75 RightCap Medicaid financing per enrollee and let states rewrite exchange rules under waiver.In practice Per-capita-cap Medicaid financing; §1332 waivers used to replace exchange requirements state by state.
  9. 100 RightRepeal the Affordable Care Act's structure and move coverage to state block grants or the private market.In practice The Graham-Cassidy block-grant bill; the 2017 repeal-and-replace effort.

Where real positions land

  • 100 LeftMedicare for All Act — One public plan; duplicative private insurance ended.
  • 50 LeftIRA drug-pricing title — Medicare negotiates prices; subsidies extended.
  • 50 RightMedicaid work-requirement waivers — Community-engagement conditions attached to eligibility.
  • 100 RightGraham-Cassidy — ACA funding converted to state block grants.

Immigration

Enforcement, the border, and status for people already here.

  1. 100 LeftBroad legalisation for people already here, with enforcement narrowed to serious criminal conduct.In practice The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021's eight-year route; the 2021 narrowed enforcement priorities memo.
  2. 75 LeftLegalisation for long-resident people, unlawful entry decriminalised, and detention capacity cut.In practice Repeal of the criminal penalty in 8 U.S.C. §1325; statutory limits on civil detention beds.
  3. 50 LeftEnforcement funding paired with a statutory legal-status route for long-resident people and those brought as children.In practice The 2013 Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act; the Dream Act.
  4. 25 LeftA status route confined to people brought as children, with border technology and staffing funded.In practice The Dream Act taken as a standalone, paired with port-of-entry screening appropriations.
  5. 0 NeutralEnforcement first with a stated willingness to legislate status later; no route committed to now.In practice The 2024 bipartisan Senate border bill: authorities and capacity, no status provisions.
  6. 25 RightRaise the asylum threshold and take emergency expulsion authority, with no status route offered at all.In practice The 2024 border bill's asylum standard and border emergency authority, taken without its silence on status.
  7. 50 RightInterior enforcement, detention capacity and removal of people with criminal convictions; no status route.In practice The Laken Riley Act's mandatory detention; interior enforcement and detention appropriations.
  8. 75 RightRemoval extended beyond criminal convictions, humanitarian parole and TPS ended, worksite enforcement expanded.In practice Termination of the CHNV parole programmes and TPS designations; expanded E-Verify and worksite operations.
  9. 100 RightMass removal of people present without status, plus reductions to legal immigration levels.In practice The 2025 mass-removal programme; the RAISE Act's cuts to legal admissions.

Where real positions land

  • 50 Left2013 Senate immigration bill — Enforcement surge paired with a thirteen-year citizenship route.
  • 0 Neutral2024 bipartisan border bill — Authorities, capacity and expulsion powers; no status provisions.
  • 50 RightLaken Riley Act, as enacted — Mandatory detention for those charged with specified offences.
  • 100 RightRAISE Act — Legal admissions roughly halved on a points system.

Energy

Production, permitting, and the clean-energy credits.

  1. 100 LeftStatutory phase-out of fossil production on a fixed timetable.In practice A permanent federal leasing ban with a legislated end date for extraction.
  2. 75 LeftNo new federal leasing and a clean-electricity standard binding utilities to a dated target; existing wells run on.In practice The Clean Electricity Performance Program; a halt to new onshore and offshore lease sales.
  3. 50 LeftKeep the clean-energy manufacturing credits and expand them, while permitting continued current production.In practice The Inflation Reduction Act's 45X, 48E and 45Y credits, extended rather than trimmed.
  4. 25 LeftKeep the credits and current production as they are, and add a federal transmission build-out.In practice IRA credits retained alongside a national transmission programme through the Grid Deployment Office.
  5. 0 NeutralAll-of-the-above: keep existing credits and existing production, with permitting reform for both.In practice The 2024 Energy Permitting Reform Act: faster approvals for transmission and for oil and gas alike.
  6. 25 RightExpand leasing and nuclear licensing while repealing the consumer-facing credits; keep the manufacturing ones.In practice Repeal of the vehicle and residential credits with 45X retained; expanded lease sales.
  7. 50 RightExpand drilling, permitting and nuclear build-out; keep only those credits tied to domestic manufacturing.In practice The ADVANCE Act's nuclear licensing reform; expanded lease sales with 45X retained.
  8. 75 RightRepeal the generation and manufacturing credits and rescind the emissions rules that underpin them.In practice Repeal of the IRA energy title plus rescission of the power-plant greenhouse-gas standards.
  9. 100 RightRepeal the clean-energy credits outright and remove federal support for the transition.In practice Full repeal of the IRA energy title, including the vehicle and generation credits.

Where real positions land

  • 50 LeftIRA energy title — Manufacturing and generation credits, with leasing continued.
  • 0 Neutral2024 permitting reform bill — Approvals accelerated for transmission and for extraction alike.
  • 50 RightADVANCE Act, as enacted — Nuclear licensing reform; expanded lease sales.

Abortion

What federal law, if any, should govern access.

  1. 100 LeftFederal statutory right to abortion with public funding of access.In practice The Women's Health Protection Act combined with repeal of the Hyde Amendment.
  2. 75 LeftFederal statutory right plus protection of interstate travel and medication access, with Hyde left standing.In practice WHPA alongside the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act's travel protections and preserved mifepristone approval.
  3. 50 LeftFederal legislation restoring the pre-2022 standard nationally; opposition to a federal ban.In practice The Women's Health Protection Act as introduced, with Hyde left in place.
  4. 25 LeftNo federal statute pursued, but opposition to a federal ban and defence of medication access.In practice Defence of the FDA's mifepristone approval against restriction, without WHPA.
  5. 0 NeutralNo federal legislation in either direction; the question is left where the courts have left it.In practice The post-Dobbs status quo: state-by-state, with no federal statute attempted either way.
  6. 25 RightNo federal limit sought, but support for state limits with exceptions and for conscience protections in federal law.In practice State limits left in place with the Hyde Amendment and federal conscience rules maintained.
  7. 50 RightOpposition to abortion with stated exceptions, and the limit left to each state.In practice State limits carrying rape, incest and life-of-the-mother exceptions, with no federal bill.
  8. 75 RightA federal limit late in pregnancy with exceptions, plus funding restrictions written into statute.In practice The 20-week federal limit bills paired with the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.
  9. 100 RightA federal statutory limit or ban applying in every state.In practice The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and successor federal-limit bills.

Where real positions land

  • 50 LeftWomen's Health Protection Act — The pre-2022 standard restored by statute; Hyde untouched.
  • 0 NeutralPost-Dobbs status quo — No federal statute pursued in either direction.
  • 100 RightFederal 15-week limit bills — A national limit binding in every state.

Guns

What restrictions or protections they would vote for.

  1. 100 LeftA federal ban on a defined class of firearms, with registration or mandatory buy-back.In practice The Assault Weapons Ban as reintroduced, paired with a mandatory buy-back proposal.
  2. 75 LeftFederal licensing to purchase and registration of a defined class, with no ban and no buy-back.In practice Federal permit-to-purchase bills modelled on the Massachusetts and Connecticut licensing regimes.
  3. 50 LeftUniversal background checks, red-flag funding and raised purchase thresholds; no ban.In practice The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; the Bipartisan Background Checks Act.
  4. 25 LeftChecks extended to commercial and online sales, plus safe storage and a waiting period; nothing further.In practice The commercial-sale scope of the Bipartisan Background Checks Act; federal safe-storage and waiting-period bills.
  5. 0 NeutralEnforce existing law and fund mental-health and record-reporting systems; no new restrictions or new protections.In practice The Fix NICS Act: better reporting into the existing system, no change to its scope.
  6. 25 RightNo new restrictions, and repeal of rules written by the agency rather than by Congress.In practice Rescission of the pistol-brace rule and of the engaged-in-the-business rule.
  7. 50 RightOppose new federal restrictions and support national concealed-carry reciprocity.In practice The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.
  8. 75 RightReciprocity plus removal of suppressors and short-barrelled firearms from the National Firearms Act.In practice The Hearing Protection Act; the SHORT Act.
  9. 100 RightRepeal existing federal restrictions, including the background-check system's current scope.In practice Repeal of the Brady background-check requirement and of the 1986 machine-gun registry closure.

Where real positions land

  • 100 LeftAssault Weapons Ban, as reintroduced — A defined class prohibited from sale and manufacture.
  • 50 LeftBipartisan Safer Communities Act, as enacted — Expanded checks for under-21 buyers; red-flag funding.
  • 0 NeutralFix NICS Act, as enacted — Record reporting improved; the system's scope unchanged.
  • 50 RightConcealed Carry Reciprocity Act — State permits recognised nationally.

Trade

Tariffs, and who sets them — Congress or the president.

  1. 100 LeftTariffs rejected as a tool; trade policy conditioned on labour and environmental standards.In practice The USMCA labour and environment chapters as the whole instrument, with tariffs off the table.
  2. 75 LeftTariffs only where a panel finds a labour or environmental breach; existing duties wound down otherwise.In practice The USMCA rapid-response labour mechanism as the sole tariff trigger, with Section 301 duties phased out.
  3. 50 LeftTargeted tariffs on named countries or sectors, with tariff authority returned to Congress.In practice Section 301 duties kept narrow; the 2025 Trade Review Act returning authority to Congress.
  4. 25 LeftExisting sectoral duties kept with a working exclusion process; new tariffs need congressional approval.In practice Section 232 steel and aluminium duties retained with the exclusion process reinstated.
  5. 0 NeutralCase-by-case tariffs retained as leverage, with congressional review of new ones.In practice Section 232 and 301 actions retained, subject to a congressional review mechanism.
  6. 25 RightTariffs used routinely as leverage on named countries, with authority left in the executive's hands.In practice Expansion of the Section 301 China duties under existing executive authority.
  7. 50 RightSupport the executive's current tariff programme, with authority left where it is.In practice The 2025 IEEPA reciprocal-tariff programme as constituted.
  8. 75 RightA baseline duty on all imports with country-specific rates on top, and existing trade commitments withdrawn from.In practice Universal baseline tariff proposals paired with repeal of permanent normal trade relations with China.
  9. 100 RightBroad across-the-board tariffs as standing policy, set by the executive without review.In practice A universal baseline tariff on all imports, permanent and executively set.

Where real positions land

  • 50 Left2025 Trade Review Act — New tariffs lapse without an affirmative vote of Congress.
  • 50 Right2025 reciprocal-tariff programme — Country-by-country rates set under emergency authority.
  • 100 RightUniversal baseline tariff proposals — A flat duty on all imports as standing policy.

Spending and debt

What they would cut, and what they would protect.

  1. 100 LeftHigher social spending funded by new taxation, with the deficit accepted as secondary.In practice The original $3.5 trillion Build Back Better framework.
  2. 75 LeftMake the lapsed expansions permanent and repeal the discretionary caps, with borrowing carrying part of the cost.In practice Permanent extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit and childcare programmes; repeal of the Fiscal Responsibility Act caps.
  3. 50 LeftProtect benefits, and find savings from drug pricing and tax enforcement rather than programme cuts.In practice IRA drug-price savings plus the IRS enforcement appropriation, with benefits untouched.
  4. 25 LeftHold discretionary roughly flat and protect benefits, with any new spending offset by enforcement revenue.In practice The Fiscal Responsibility Act caps retained with the IRS enforcement appropriation preserved.
  5. 0 NeutralHold discretionary spending flat and protect current benefits; no structural change either way.In practice The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023's discretionary caps.
  6. 25 RightAppropriate below the caps and claw back enacted funding, with benefits and statutory caps otherwise unchanged.In practice Below-cap appropriations paired with rescission packages.
  7. 50 RightDiscretionary cuts, rescissions and statutory caps, with current retirees' benefits ring-fenced.In practice The 2025 rescissions package; Republican Study Committee discretionary caps.
  8. 75 RightStatutory caps on total spending, plus a commission empowered to reopen the benefit programmes.In practice The Fiscal Commission Act; the TRUST Act's rescue committees paired with total-spending caps.
  9. 100 RightA balanced-budget amendment plus structural change to the benefit programmes themselves.In practice A balanced-budget constitutional amendment with a raised retirement age and premium support.

Where real positions land

  • 100 LeftOriginal Build Back Better framework — $3.5tn in new programmes, partially offset.
  • 0 NeutralFiscal Responsibility Act, as enacted — Two years of discretionary caps; benefits untouched.
  • 50 Right2025 rescissions package — Enacted appropriations clawed back; retirees ring-fenced.

Elections

Voting rules, certification, and federal election law.

  1. 100 LeftFederal takeover of election administration with national standards and a restored preclearance regime.In practice The For the People Act plus the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act's preclearance formula.
  2. 75 LeftRestored preclearance for covered jurisdictions plus federal voting standards, without public campaign financing.In practice The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act taken without the For the People Act's financing title.
  3. 50 LeftFederal minimum standards for early and mail voting, and limits on voter-roll purges.In practice The Freedom to Vote Act.
  4. 25 LeftFederal protection for mail voting and drop-off, with administration otherwise left entirely to the states.In practice The mail-ballot and election-mail provisions of the Freedom to Vote Act, taken alone.
  5. 0 NeutralFederal transparency and audit requirements only; administration left to the states.In practice The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022: counting rules fixed, administration untouched.
  6. 25 RightFederal photo-ID and roll-maintenance requirements, stopping short of documentary proof of citizenship.In practice Federal voter-ID bills and list-maintenance mandates short of the SAVE Act.
  7. 50 RightDocumentary proof of citizenship for federal registration, with administration left to the states.In practice The SAVE Act.
  8. 75 RightProof of citizenship plus federal limits on no-excuse mail voting and third-party ballot return.In practice The SAVE Act paired with bills ending no-excuse mail voting and restricting ballot collection.
  9. 100 RightSingle-day in-person voting with narrow exceptions, and hand-count or paper-only requirements.In practice State and county hand-count ordinances; bills ending no-excuse mail voting outright.

Where real positions land

  • 100 LeftFor the People Act — National standards, redistricting commissions, public financing.
  • 50 LeftFreedom to Vote Act — Minimum early and mail-voting standards; purge limits.
  • 0 NeutralElectoral Count Reform Act, as enacted — Counting rules clarified; administration left with the states.
  • 50 RightSAVE Act — Documentary proof of citizenship required to register federally.

Georgia's industrial corridor

The Savannah port, the Hyundai plant and the battery supply chain built around them — what happens to the incentives and the workforce.

  1. 100 LeftExpand federal industrial policy in the corridor with conditions attached on wages and unionisation.In practice Prevailing-wage and labour-agreement conditions attached to plant-level federal support.
  2. 75 LeftAdd federal loan and offtake commitments on top of the credits, with project labour agreements required.In practice DOE loan-programme and offtake support layered onto 45X, conditioned on project labour agreements.
  3. 50 LeftKeep the federal credits the plants were financed against, and add federal workforce and infrastructure funding.In practice IRA 45X and vehicle credits retained, plus workforce funds for the Savannah-to-Cartersville corridor.
  4. 25 LeftKeep the credits and fund port and freight capacity, with no labour or wage conditions attached.In practice 45X and the vehicle credits retained alongside Savannah harbour appropriations.
  5. 0 NeutralKeep the credits already committed, and fund port and freight capacity, without new industrial policy.In practice Savannah harbour and freight-corridor appropriations, with committed credits honoured.
  6. 25 RightHonour the credits for plants already under construction but close them to new entrants; fund freight instead.In practice 45X grandfathered for projects under construction and closed to new claimants.
  7. 50 RightFund port and freight capacity while ending the energy credits underwriting the battery supply chain.In practice Port funding retained; 45X and the vehicle credits repealed.
  8. 75 RightEnd the credits retroactively, including for plants already financed against them, keeping only port funding.In practice Retroactive repeal of 45X and the vehicle credits with harbour appropriations retained.
  9. 100 RightEnd the credits and federal industrial support in the corridor entirely; leave the build-out to the market.In practice Full repeal of the IRA energy title with no replacement corridor programme.

Where real positions land

  • 50 Left45X as financed against — The credits the Georgia battery and vehicle plants were underwritten by.
  • 0 NeutralSavannah harbour appropriations — Freight and port capacity funded; no new industrial policy.
  • 50 RightIRA energy-title repeal bills — Port funding kept; the credits behind the supply chain ended.
How the scale is builtFloor: 6 headings

The ladder is printed before the candidate is read

Each heading carries nine concrete policies at 100L, 75L, 50L, 25L, 0, 25R, 50R, 75R and 100R. Placement is choosing the printed policy that matches the candidate's own stated position. It is not an impression of how far one way somebody seems, and a rung that two careful readers place differently is a badly written rung, not a hard call.

Resolution comes from more printed rungs, never from interpolation

The obvious way to sharpen a scale is to let a grader place someone "between" two rungs. That quietly restores the judgement the ladder exists to remove, and it does it invisibly, because there is nothing printed for a reader to argue with. So the in-between positions were written out instead: 44 additional rungs at 25 and 75 on each side, each one a distinct policy with its own statute. A half rung had to pass one test to be allowed on — somebody real advocates this and not its neighbours — and anything that failed it was cut rather than kept as padding.

Every rung names a real law

Each of the 99 rungs carries a referent: a bill, a rule or an enacted programme that actually occupies that position. A rung defined only by adjectives can be slid quietly in whichever direction suits the desk; a rung fixed to a statute cannot. Where a grader is unsure what 50R means on a heading, they read the law printed beside it.

The spacing is checked against positions already in circulation

Under each ladder is a short list of well-documented positions and where they land. If the rungs were badly placed, real positions would bunch at one end or disappear into the middle — so a reader who thinks the ladder leans can point at a specific row rather than at a feeling. No candidate on the board is used for calibration, because measuring an instrument against the thing it measures proves nothing.

The centre rung is a real position

Zero on this scale is a policy somebody actually holds — enforce current law, extend current rates, keep the current structure — not 'we could not tell'. A scale whose middle means uncertainty converts every silence into moderation, which is the most common way these instruments lie.

Silence is excluded, and counted out loud

Headings a campaign has not addressed are unscored and appear in full underneath every placement. No aggregate is published below 6 of 11 headings — the instrument declines instead of estimating. A thin record produces no number here, however tempting the number would be.

Every heading weighs the same

Salience weighting is the strongest lever on the final figure and the hardest to falsify, so this scale does not use it. If that ever changes, the weights are published and dated here before any candidate is placed against them.

The number never travels alone

A placement is published only with its coverage and its spread. A candidate placed hard one way on some headings and the other way on others is not a centrist, and the spread is what prevents the mean from claiming otherwise.

Thin evidence widens the figure, it never moves it

A placement supported by one general line of campaign copy is not a placement toward the centre — it is a placement the record cannot pin down, and the honest way to publish it is wide. Each placement carries one of three printed evidence grades whose widths are fixed in advance: explicit publishes a point, adjacent a band 12 either side, thin a band 25 either side. The grader chooses a grade, never a width, and the band travels through the arithmetic into the overall figure.

The published figure is coarser than the arithmetic, on purpose

The axis runs to 100 a side, but the ladder's finest real distinction is 25 — the gap between two printed rungs. A figure like 37L would therefore claim a precision the record cannot supply. Published figures are quantised to the nearest 5, 20 stops a side: coarse enough that no digit outruns the ladder, fine enough that two different band edges do not collapse into one number. The rounding happens at the glass and never in the arithmetic — aggregates are computed from unrounded parts — and the computed value is printed beside every published figure so the mean can be checked rather than taken.

Placements are drafted until they are signed

A drafted placement has been made against the ledger cell and the printed ladder. It becomes signed when the editor of record countersigns it. The badge on each row says which, and it never claims the state above.

What it refuses to do
  • It does not rate the candidate — only the positions their own campaign has published.
  • It does not score character, competence, honesty or likely conduct in office.
  • It does not predict a vote, a result or a rating on the board at The Count.
  • It does not read positions from news coverage, interviews, endorsements or an opponent's advertisement.
  • It does not treat a candidate who has said nothing as a moderate.
  • It does not narrow a figure that the record cannot support — thin evidence is published as a band, not rounded to a point.
  • It does not print a digit the ladder cannot support — published figures sit on 5-point stops, with the computed value shown beside them.
  • It does not average the field into a 'both sides' midpoint, and there is no leaderboard.

The ledger stays unscored. This page is the desk's arithmetic laid out separately so a reader can take the record of stated positions without taking the arithmetic, or check the arithmetic line by line against the record.

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