Rep. Dan Lungren was in his car one recent morning in his California district, on the way back from the gym, when his BlackBerry buzzed with an email from his press secretary in Washington.
National Public Radio wanted to interview Lungren on the air -- in five minutes - about a just-released study that showed Lungren among the most highest-rated speakers in Congress. What Lungren didn't realize: The study said he was THE most highest-rated speaker in Congress.
"I thought the purpose of the call was that I was in the top five or something," Lungren told RTT News. "I was frankly surprised to learn I was listed as No. 1."
The study by the Washington-based Sunlight Foundation ranked all 535 members of Congress by the grade level of their floor speeches, using a system called the Flesch-Kincaid test, which basically awards higher grade levels to members whose speeches contain longer words and sentences.
Lungren's score, 16.01, was more than a full level higher than the runner-up, California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard.
Lungren said he took his score "with a grain of salt," but it was far higher than the 10.6 grade level that the study found as the overall congressional average and was in the ballpark of the levels of some of the most iconic pieces of American historical writing - the U.S. Constitution (17.8), the Federalist Papers (17.1) and the Declaration of Independence (15.1).
Lungren, a Republican, primarily attributes his rating to his high school speech and debate classes, his degree in English at Notre Dame and to his legal career both in private and public law.
But he also has a long political resume which has made him familiar with public speaking -- he previously served the Long Beach area in Congress from 1979 to 1989, and was California attorney general from 1991 to 1999. He returned to Congress in 2004 to serve a district east of the Bay Area, where he has been re-elected three times.
Lungren also has another explanation: He serves on the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees in the House, which often explore dense constitutional and legal issues.
"Whether it's the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or the Patriot Act or parts of the National Defense Authorization Act, you have to deal with the words of the Constitution and concepts contained there," he said. "That might have something to do with it."
Lungren said he usually speaks off-the-cuff and rarely uses prepared speeches from his staff - many members of Congress use speechwriters -- and gives upper-most credit for his speaking success to his high school teachers, one of whom heard his NPR interview and contacted him afterward.
"They had me and other students thinking about the use of language more than we would otherwise," he said of his teachers. "It's like riding a bike or learning a foreign language. If you learn to do it when you're younger, it is far easier than learning or re-learning it later in life."
Asked if he's been teased about his score by any of his congressional colleagues, Lungren said no.
"Just by my wife," he said.
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