How bipartisan has U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole been?

From 2003 to 2008, the Salisbury Republican was the primary sponsor of 140 bills. Of them, 80 had no cosponsors, 27 had only Republican cosponsors and 33 had Democratic cosponsors.

Overall, her 264 cosponsors included 164 Republicans and 100 Democrats, or about three-to-two ratio. A bill to give British Prime Minister Tony Blair the Congressional Medal of Honor was the most bipartisan measure, with 30 Democratic cosponsors.

Another bipartisan bill would have phased out reduced-price lunches at public schools by increasing eligibility for free lunches. Six Republican and eight Democrats signed on.

The most frequent Democratic cosponsor was Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who signed on to seven bills, including ones to investigate Camp Lejeune's drinking water and recognize the Lumbee tribe as well as several amendments to bills.

Sen. Joe Lieberman signed onto six bills, including ones to set aside a portion of the gross domestic product for defense spending and provide job training in college. Sens. Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, Richard Durbin, Frank Lautenberg and Bill Nelson each signed onto five bills.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards signed onto four Dole bills, including recognizing the Lumbees and honoring Blair.

Previously: Dole's cosponsors in 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole wants to spend more on defense.

Dole, a Salisbury Republican, has introduced a resolution calling on Congress to spend at least 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product on the defense budget.

Dole says that would require an additional $40 billion in fiscal year 2008. Otherwise, the resolution says, defense spending is on track to drop to 3.2 percent of GDP by 2012.

"Projected defense spending will fall considerably short of meeting many of our military’s needs, and if we do not remedy this situation now, there will be serious consequences for our national security," Dole said in a statement.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated the year.