National Journal’s new Senate and House rankings are out. For those unfamiliar, these are the rankings that became famous during the 2004 presidential campaign for citing John Kerry as the most-liberal member of the U.S. Senate. This year’s rankings are full of interesting, and in some cases, surprising data on members of Congress. Of particular interest are the rankings of those Senate members considering a run for the White House in 2008:

On the GOP side, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback has the highest lifetime conservative voting record, giving him a lifetime average composite conservative score of 82.5. In descending order are Rick Santorum (78.8), George Allen (78.2), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (77.2), John McCain (73.3), Chuck Hagel (71.7) and Lindsey Graham (67.4).

Frist, McCain, Hagel and Graham have all seen their voting records shift away from the right over the past year, with McCain and Hagel making the largest shifts. On social issues, Graham has stayed the most true to his conservative roots, while shifting somewhat on economic and foreign policy issues.

On the left, John Kerry maintains top “honors” amongst Democrats who may seek the White House in 2008. Kerry’s lifetime average composite liberal score comes in at 85.7. In descending order are Hillary Clinton (80.7), Russell Feingold (80.2) Chris Dodd (78.9), Joseph Biden (76.6) and Evan Bayh (61.9).

There is no shortage of buzz worthy information in these results. Why do certain Democrats rate more to the center than others? On what issues did Frist and other White House hopefuls vote against the party? Who are the most conservative and most liberal members of the House and Senate? I’ll provide the answers to all of these questions throughout the day and hopefully get some reactions from members themselves.