Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not employ the nuclear option or go nuclear, as many headlines and stories suggested. He did not use an unprecedented ploy to challenge the filibuster or in any real way change Senate rules by majority vote. What Reid employed was closer to a firecracker than a nuke.

This is the third installment of AEI's series, Politics Watch.

Publications like the National Journal have ranked Obama as the most liberal senator, but the ranking system carries some flaws.