The Fix: Whitehouse Ties McCaskill as Most Underrated Senator

A new reader poll at The Washington Post's political blog, The Fix, has Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Claire McCaskill tied for most underrated senator.

Yesterday, we asked Fixistas to choose the most underrated member of the U.S. Senate from a list of six options. More than 3,600(!) of you offered your opinion.

The winners? Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D).

McCaskill is the more prominent of the two -- a regular presence on the cable chat shows as a support of President Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, a swing state Senator and an  inveterate Twitterer.

Whitehouse may more fit the underrated bill as he is little known outside of his native Rhode Island but is extremely well regarded by his colleagues within the Senate and was seen as a star performer -- although not by the Fix -- during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Maybe this is a parochial Rhode Island view. But its seems Whitehouse has been pretty ubiquitous on cable, of late, too.