CQ Voting Studies are an annual analysis of a member's support or opposition to a given position. Interest Group Ratings are based on rankings from groups chosen to represent liberal, conservative, business and labor viewpoints.Voting Participation scores are based on the number of times a member voted "yea" or "nay" on roll call votes (not including quorum calls in the House). CQ Vote Studies Year Presidential Support Party Unity   S* O* S O 1998 85% 11% 98% 1% S=Support; O=Oppose
Voting Participation Year % 1998 99	Interest Groups Year ADA AFL-CIO CCUS ACU 1998 75% n/a 14% 5 % 1997 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Note on Interest Groups: ADA=Americans for Democratic Action; AFL-CIO=American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations; CCUS=Chamber of Commerce of the United States; ACU=American Conservative Union

CALIFORNIA 9 : Alameda County - Oakland; Berkeley

Looking across the water from the east side of the San Francisco Bay, the 9th is anchored by two racially diverse and liberal communities, Oakland and Berkeley, that gained national attention for their political activism in the 1960s.

Most district residents live in Oakland, which is 45 percent black. The city's unemployment rate is slightly above state and national averages, but revitalization efforts have kept the area in good health, despite the closing of several military facilities. In the city's eastern hills, the neighborhoods tend to be wealthy and less diverse. Tension between blacks and police gave birth to the Black Panther Party in 1966.

Just north of Oakland, Berkeley, home to the flagship campus of the U. of California system, looks out over the Bay from the Berkeley Hills. Home to student protests in the 1960s, Berkeley still looks much the way it did then. The remainder of the district includes smaller communities such as Alameda, an industrial port city, and Albany, a suburb at the north end of the district.

With a core constituency in the left-leaning cities of Oakland and Berkeley, the 9th is a Democratic stronghold. Republicans account for only 12 percent of registered voters.

Major Industry
Biotechnology, shipping

Population
573,669 (1990)

Cities
Oakland (pt.), 361,584; Alameda (pt.), 76,457 (1990); Berkeley, 103,243 (1998)

People
100% urban; 12% age 65+ (ranks 12 of 52 in state; middle third nationally); 37% married couples, 17% married couples with children; 35% college educated (ranks sixth of 52 in state; top third nationally); 69% white collar (ranks 11 of 52 in state; top third nationally), 17% blue collar (ranks 44 of 52 in state; bottom third nationally) (1990)

Race
45% white, 32% black, 16% Asian; 11% Hispanic origin (1990)

Median Household Income
$30,067 (ranks 39 of 52 in state; middle third nationally) (1990)

Unusual Features
Author Jack London lived in Oakland for nearly 20 years, ran for mayor twice, and the cabin he lived in during the Yukon Gold Rush of 1897 was moved to Jack London Square, a waterfront shopping center in Oakland, in 1970; West Oakland train station - a terminus for the Transcontinental Railroad - was home to the Union of Sleeping Car Porters, the first integrated union in the country.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company