A few Democrats are quite conservative, however. And a few Republicans are liberal — at least by GrassRoots standards.

Rep. Neal Hendrickson, D-West Valley, got a 70 percent approval rating from GrassRoots for the 2008 session. But his lifetime average is just 37 percent.

Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, is giving up her House seat this year to challenge Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Sandy. Morgan voted correctly half of the time (50 percent exactly). Walker voted the GrassRoots way only 47 percent of the time in 2008.

Sen. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, who is not up for election this year, voted by the GrassRoots standard 47 percent of the time — more conservative than a number of Republicans.

And there may be hope — at least as the conservatives see it — for Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, the only openly gay senator. McCoy voted correctly 30 percent of the time, says GrassRoots, while his lifetime voting average is only 17 percent. Knowing McCoy as I do, I imagine he's wondering what he did wrong to get even a 30 percent ranking from GrassRoots.

Several dozen House Republicans consider themselves "Reagan Republicans" — and they have joined the mainstream or moderate caucus. Those moderate Republicans get some GrassRoots rankings that are below some of the more conservative Democrats.

For example, Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, is at 45 percent this year (35 percent lifetime); Jim Bird, R-West Jordan, is at 43 percent this year (42 percent lifetime); Mel Brown, R-Coalville, 30 percent (36 percent lifetime); Ben Ferry, R-Corrine, 33 percent (54 percent lifetime); Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, 38 percent (48 percent lifetime); Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, 30 percent (47 percent lifetime).

Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, voted "correctly" just a quarter of the time (39 percent lifetime); Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, came in at only 32 percent this year (41 percent lifetime); and Ronda Menlove, R-Garland; voted correctly with GrassRoots only 27 percent of the time in 2008 (33 percent lifetime).

How tough are GrassRoots standards?

Both Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, and House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, voted correctly just half of the time.

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Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com