The Congressman Formerly Known as Crazy: Why Alan Grayson is now the most effective member

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5. That's because he thinks like an engineer, not like a politician

I know he's not an engineer himself, but he's got that technological mindset. He approaches the business of legislating as a set of problems to be solved and thinks in terms of flowcharts that can get you from here to there.

You can almost see the little yes/no junctures in the description of how he decides what amendments to push. When something gets a "Yes," it goes on to the next test. When it hits a "No," it gets routed through "Is there some way we can tweak this to make it more appealing?" And if it passes the last test, it gets, "Then go for it!"