  Radio core dominance, usually measured by R, the rest frame ratio of core to
lobe flux density, has been used as an indicator of Doppler boosting of
quasars' radio jets and hence the inclination of the central engine's spin axis
to the line of sight. The use of lobe flux density as a means of normalizing
the boosted core flux density to the available intrinsic power of the central
engine introduces scatter. This is because the emission from the radio lobes
depends strongly on the interaction of the jet with the environment at
distances beyond several Kpc from the nucleus. Total kinetic power in the
extended radio emission is approximately proportional to emission line
luminosity, and emission line luminosity is proportional to the luminosity of
AGNs' featureless continua -- both over 4 orders of magnitude. Thus, quasars'
optical luminosity may be an excellent measure of available intrinsic jet
power. Therefore we define a new core dominance parameter, R$_V$, the ratio of
radio core to optical (rest frame V band) continuum luminosity, that is not
directly dependent on jet interactions with the super-Kpc-scale environment. We
show that the use of R$_V$, rather than R, results in significantly improved
inverse correlations with the beaming angle as deduced from apparent
superluminal velocities and inverse Compton scattered X-ray emission, and with
the FWHM of quasars' broad H$\beta$ emission line. We discuss some implications
and applications of the new parameter.
