On social issues, he tends to vote with his constituents, opposing abortion in most cases, supporting a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and voting to repeal the semi-automatic assault-style weapons ban. In the 110th Congress, he voted with the Democrats 95.8 percent of the time.But on votes that pitted most Democrats against Republicans in the 109th Congress - as opposed to all votes, many of which Democrats and Republicans agreed - that number was 75 percent.

Iraq War

It is military issues, not social ones, that make Skelton tick. He supported Rep. John Spratt's (D-S.C.) failed resolution that would have required more U.N. inspections before going to war, but when that failed, he voted to give the President the authority to go to war, fearing weapons of mass destruction. Still, he warned the president that toppling Saddam Hussein's regime would be easy compared with stabilizing the country afterward. "I have no doubt that our military would decisively defeat Iraq's forces and remove Saddam," he wrote in The Hill in 2002. "But like the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must consider what we would do after we caught it."

He has since opposed the troop surge, and he sponsored a bill to set a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq. "The time for a troop increase was about 3 years ago, when we initially went into Iraq," Skelton said. "If we had done that, I don't think we would be in the situation we are today."

Military Issues

Skelton is a student of military history and often quotes Sun Tzu and other great military minds. On his web site, he has his "National Security Book List," a running list of books officers, congressmen and anyone interested in the military should read. He is a proponent of a strong national defense, and he has pushed for more troop readiness. He has called for more troops in the Army since 1995 and criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war because he says it leaves the military flat-footed in case of an emergency. He has consistently brought in money for Whiteman Air Force Base, which is in his district.

The Economy

Skelton voted for the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, and came under fire from his opponent, Jeff Parnell. "If we did nothing, there would be a serious recession if not a depression," Skelton said.

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