Newspeople have love affair with these freshmen in Congress

Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.

According to a new study, three of the 94 freshmen representatives elected to Congress in 2010 gobble up over one-third of the media's coverage given to the newcomers, while one rising star – Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. – has almost 20 percent of the coverage all to himself.

The study of the House's "most buzzworthy freshmen" was conducted by Smart Politics, a non-partisan political news site founded by Dr. Eric Ostermeier of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

The study analyzed the contents of Lexis/Nexis news transcripts from ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and NPR.

Rep. West came in as the clear winner of "most buzzworthy," interviewed or mentioned in 222 news broadcasts since January of this year, or 17.9 percent of all media stories on freshmen representatives.

Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., came in second, with 12.0 percent of the coverage, while Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., came in third, with 3.6 percent.

Notably, West and Scott are the only two black Republicans serving in either chamber of the 112th Congress.

So who wasn't deemed "buzzworthy" by the news media?

Freshmen Democrats have received little attention in comparison to their Republican counterparts, as the top-ranking "buzzworthy" Democrat, Rep. Karen Bass, Calif., came in 11th, with only 18 mentions since January. Of the 94 congressional freshmen studied, only Rep. John Carney, a Democrat from Delaware, has been completely shut out of coverage by the national networks.

"The approximately seven-dozen GOP House freshmen have appeared or been mentioned in an average of 14 news broadcasts each," Ostermeier writes in summation of his group's study, "compared to just eight mentions [on average] for the nine new Democrats."

Smart Politics also broke down the coverage by network, discovering West the most "buzzworthy" on Fox News (mentioned in 101 broadcasts), NPR (32 broadcasts), CBS (13) and ABC (6). Rep. Walsh bested West for the most coverage on CNN (61 to 36) and MSNBC (39 to 34).

A chart created by Smart Politics to illustrate the results of its study can be seen below:

Number of National Broadcasts Mentioning or Interviewing U.S. House Freshmen in 2011

Rank	Representative	District	Party	Broadcasts	Percent
1	Allen West	FL-22	GOP	222	17.9
2	Joe Walsh	IL-08	GOP	148	12.0
3	Tim Scott	SC-01	GOP	45	3.6
4	Sean Duffy	WI-07	GOP	38	3.1
5	Michael Grimm	NY-13	GOP	27	2.2
6	Ben Quayle	AZ-03	GOP	26	2.1
7	Kristi Noem	SD-AL	GOP	25	2.0
8	Adam Kinzinger	IL-11	GOP	22	1.8
9	Mick Mulvaney	SC-05	GOP	21	1.7
10	Mike Kelly	PA-03	GOP	20	1.6
11	Karen Bass	CA-33	Democrat	18	1.5
11	Trey Gowdy	SC-04	GOP	18	1.5
13	Lou Barletta	PA-11	GOP	17	1.4
13	Mo Brooks	AL-05	GOP	17	1.4
13	Renee Ellmers	NC-02	GOP	17	1.4
13	Nan Hayworth	NY-19	GOP	17	1.4
13	Bill Huizenga	MI-02	GOP	17	1.4
18	Paul Gosar	AZ-01	GOP	16	1.3
18	Frank Guinta	NH-01	GOP	16	1.3
18	Raul Labrador	ID-01	GOP	16	1.3
18	David Schweikert	AZ-05	GOP	16	1.3
18	Frederica Wilson	FL-17	Democrat	16	1.3
23	Daniel Webster	FL-08	GOP	14	1.1
24	Charlie Bass*	NH-02	GOP	13	1.1
24	Blake Farenthold	TX-27	GOP	13	1.1
24	Mike Fitzpatrick*	PA-08	GOP	13	1.1
24	Tim Huelskamp	KS-01	GOP	13	1.1
28	Billy Long	MO-07	GOP	12	1.0
29	Hansen Clarke	MI-13	Democrat	11	0.9
29	Chip Cravaack	MN-08	GOP	11	0.9
29	Tim Griffin	AR-02	GOP	11	0.9
29	James Lankford	OK-05	GOP	11	0.9
29	Cedric Richmond	LA-02	Democrat	11	0.9
29	Bobby Schilling	IL-17	GOP	11	0.9
35	Ann Marie Buerkle	NY-25	GOP	10	0.8
35	Jeff Denham	CA-19	GOP	10	0.8
35	Andy Harris	MD-01	GOP	10	0.8
35	Vicky Hartzler	MO-04	GOP	10	0.8
35	Joe Heck	NV-03	GOP	10	0.8
35	Pat Meehan	PA-07	GOP	10	0.8
35	Mike Pompeo	KS-04	GOP	10	0.8
42	Jeff Duncan	SC-03	GOP	9	0.7
43	Diane Black	TN-06	GOP	8	0.6
43	Stephen Fincher	TN-08	GOP	8	0.6
43	Steve Pearce*	NM-02	GOP	8	0.6
43	Dennis Ross	FL-12	GOP	8	0.6
43	Steve Southerland	FL-02	GOP	8	0.6
43	Scott Tipton	CO-03	GOP	8	0.6
43	Tim Walberg*	MI-07	GOP	8	0.6
50	Colleen Hanabusa	HA-01	Democrat	7	0.6
50	Jeff Landry	LA-03	GOP	7	0.6
50	Austin Scott	GA-08	GOP	7	0.6
53	Justin Amash	MI-03	GOP	6	0.5
53	Steve Chabot*	OH-01	GOP	6	0.5
53	Reid Ribble	WI-08	GOP	6	0.5
53	David Rivera	FL-25	GOP	6	0.5
53	Steve Womack	AR-03	GOP	6	0.5
53	Rob Woodall	GA-07	GOP	6	0.5
59	Rick Berg	ND-AL	GOP	5	0.4
59	Bill Flores	TX-17	GOP	5	0.4
59	Chris Gibson	NY-20	GOP	5	0.4
59	Randy Hultgren	IL-14	GOP	5	0.4
59	Rich Nugent	FL-05	GOP	5	0.4
59	Steven Palazzo	MS-04	GOP	5	0.4
59	Kevin Yoder	KS-03	GOP	5	0.4
66	Robert Dold	IL-10	GOP	4	0.3
66	Cory Gardner	CO-04	GOP	4	0.3
66	Bill Johnson	OH-06	GOP	4	0.3
66	Tom Marino	PA-10	GOP	4	0.3
66	Todd Rokita	IN-04	GOP	4	0.3
66	Todd Young	IN-09	GOP	4	0.3
72	Sandy Adams	FL-24	GOP	3	0.2
72	Dan Benishek	MI-01	GOP	3	0.2
72	Francisco Canseco	TX-23	GOP	3	0.2
72	David Cicilline	RH-01	Democrat	3	0.2
72	Jamie Herrera Beutler	WA-03	GOP	3	0.2
72	Bill Keating	MA-10	Democrat	3	0.2
72	David McKinley	WV-01	GOP	3	0.2
72	Scott Rigell	VA-02	GOP	3	0.2
72	Martha Roby	AL-02	GOP	3	0.2
72	Terri Sewell	AL-07	Democrat	3	0.2
82	Larry Bucshon	IN-08	GOP	2	0.2
82	Rick Crawford	AR-01	GOP	2	0.2
82	Scott DesJarlais	TN-04	GOP	2	0.2
82	Morgan Griffith	VA-09	GOP	2	0.2
82	Richard Hanna	NY-24	GOP	2	0.2
87	Chuck Fleischmann	TN-03	GOP	1	0.1
87	Bob Gibbs	OH-18	GOP	1	0.1
87	Robert Hurt	VA-05	GOP	1	0.1
87	Alan Nunnelee	MS-01	GOP	1	0.1
87	Jim Renacci	OH-16	GOP	1	0.1
87	Jon Runyan	NJ-03	GOP	1	0.1
87	Steve Stivers	OH-15	GOP	1	0.1
94	John Carney	DL-AL	Democrat	0	0.0
	Total			1,238	100.0

Broadcast mentions through September 17, 2011 from transcripts on Lexis/Nexis of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and NPR. * Previously served in the U.S. House prior to the 112th Congress. Note: Does not include Republicans Tom Reed (NY-29) and Marlin Stutzman (IN-03) who were elected in November 2010 but took office via special election at that time. Also does not include Democrats Kathy Hochul (NY-26) and Janice Hahn (CA-36) who won special elections in May 2011 and July 2011 respectively. Table compiled by Smart Politics.