Senate Dems voted in by 4.2 million more votes than Pub Senators

I spend too much of my time debating with conservatives in various venues in RL and online. The 'nuclear option' has brought out the typical arguments, but one that seems to really resonate with them  is the argument that the 'minority party' shouldn't be allowed to get away with the filibusters to block beloved Bush's nominnees. Afterall, using their reasoning, which I can understand to a point, the people voted and elected Bush and Republicans to the majority in the Senate. You know, that supposed mandate thingy. Oh and my favorite line of theirs, "majority rules!" Just nevermind, the fact we're a republic, or the fact they blocked a much higher number of Clinton nominees, or the fact they are bad judges, hey, they're the majority damnit... sigh. They really do love the power trip, eh?

Anyway, so I got to wondering, what are tha actual vote totals for the 'minority party'...

Do republicans hold the majority there too, considering so many are from such small voting states?  Well it turns out, no. No they were not given the majority of seats in the Senate by a majority of voters. 4.2 million more votes were cast for sitting Dem Senators than sitting Pub Senators.

Here's the data taken from the FEC site for 2000 and 2002 and CNN for 2004.

Republicans.............Democrats
2000    
1,108,196...AZ.............5,932,522...CA
1,427,944...IN.................828,902...CT
437,689.....ME.................181,566...DE
654,941.....MS..............2,989,487...FL
208,082.....MT.................251,215...HI
2,666,736...OH.............1,230,013...MD
330,687.....NV...........,..1,889,494...MA
2,481,962...PA...........,..2,061,952...MI
222,588.....RI..........,....1,181,553...MN
1,255,444...TN.................353,093...NE
4,082,091...TX..........,...1,511,237...NJ
504,803.....UT.................363,744...NM
1,420,460...VA..........,...3,562,415...NY
157,622.....WY.................176,470...ND
.....................................189,133...VT *
...................................1,199,437...WA
.....................................469,215...WV
...................................1,563,238...WI

2002
792,561.....AL.................433,306...AR
179,438.....AK.................135,253...DE
717,893.....CO...............2,103,766...IL
1,071,352...GA.................554,278...IA
266,215.....ID...............1,235,554...LA
641,075.....KS...............1,605,976...MA
731,679.....KY...............1,896,614...MI
1,116,697...MN.................204,853...MT
295,041.....ME...............1,138,193...NJ
533,269.....MS.................253,922...RI
935,032.....MO.................167,481...SD
397,438.....NE.................275,281...WV
227,229.....NH                 
314,301.....NM   
1,248,664...NC   
583,579.....OK   
712,287.....OR       
600,010.....SC   
891,420.....TN   
2,496,243...TX   
1,229,894...VA   
133,710.....WY   

2004   
1,242,200...AL.................580,973...AR
149,773.....AK...............6,955,728...CA
1,505,372...AZ................1,081,188...CO  
3,672,864...FL.................945,347...CT
1,864,202...GA.................313,629...HI
499,796.....ID...............3,597,456...IL
1,038,175...IA................1,496,976,,,IN
780,863.....KS................1,504,691...MD
873,507.....KY.................494,805.....NV
943,014.....LA...............4,769,824...NY
1,518,089...MO.................212,143.....ND
434,847.....NH................1,128,728...OR
1,791,450...NC.................216,972...VT
3,464,356...OH................1,549,708...WA
763,433.....OK................1,632,697...WI
2,925,080...PA   
857,167.....SC
197,848.....SD           
626,640.....UT   

Total Votes:

R: 58,222,948.................D: 62,420,028   

* I counted Jeffords 189,133 votes as dem, even though he was elected as a pub.

Now I understand the way the founders set up the government, but it's always been a thorn in my side that a WY vote for example, is usually worth at least 3-6x more than a heavily populated blue staters vote. Obviously, the way it was set up, it  hurts the dems when it comes to electoral votes and the balance of power in the Senate. I for one am sick of hearing about 'majority, majority, majority", when it's slim at best and not totally accurate in the Senate if we think of ourselves with a representative government. While I reaize it's possibly just wishful thinking, based on turnout %'s, I do feel if CA or NY, et al. had more incentive to vote in the 04 presidential election, Bush probably wouldn't have won the popular vote again.

Anyway, I thought the info was interesting and something I'm not hearing from our leaders or the media, so I thought I'd pass it along. Perhaps louder voices than mine can use it to some sort of framing advantage, whether it applies to the filibuster battle or election reform, morale boost, etc..

P.S. While I copy and pasted all the data from above into a spreadsheet and double checked my numbers, I'd appreciate if someone would fact check for me that my numbers are accurate.  If you use the same data I did, make sure you don't count MO (Carnahan) from 2000, as she was defeated in a 2002 special election.

P.P.S. A quick google didn't give me anything on the house seat winners vote totals. And I don't have the time to go thru every race, so if anyone has that info, I'd be most grateful if you post it. Thanks.