Obama: Leftist Extraordinaire

Who's the more liberal, Barack Obama or Dennis Kucinich?

A National Journal review of voting records (covered here) gives the surprizing answer: The telegenic senator from Illinois beats out the munchkin from Ohio.

On the Democratic side, the analysis of "lifetime" voting records shows Obama as the most liberal with a score of 84.3 after two full years in the Senate. The most liberal score possible was 99.

The lifetime liberal scores for the other Democrats:

-Kucinich, 79.4

-Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, 79.2

-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, 78.8

-Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, 76.8

Yeah, but there's liberal and there's liberal. What we need now, for sure, is someone who isn't liberal on foreign policy and is willing to take unpopular stands to ensure victory against terrorists, so cut Mr. TV Camera a break, OK?

Sorry, Bub. Obama scores slightly more liberal on foreign policy than on domestic policy. Plus, he leans slightly more liberal on economic policy. If elected, he will not be remembered for tax cuts, you can be sure.

How does he hide his record so well? For one thing, it's pathetically short, so there's not all that many votes to hide. For another, Dems aren't looking at records; they're looking for a Kennedy, a charmer with a nice smile who will take them to Camelot after so many years of living in a political Transylvania.

So we know going into the 2008 campaign that if Obama takes it, we will be able to keep the GOP solidly out of his camp and will have a good shot at attracting Reagan Democrats to the GOP ticket. And what about that ticket?

The most conservative member of Congress seeking the Republican nomination - based on lifetime voting records - is Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, with a score of 82.5. The most conservative score possible was 99.

Lifetime scores for the other Republicans:

-Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, 81

-Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, 75.9

-Sen. John McCain of Arizona, 71.8

-Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, 71.5

-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, 51.7

In other words, no GOP candidate from Congress who's got a chance has got a good conservative ranking. McCain used to have one, but he's been dropping in his conservative ranking over the years, which should come as a surprize to no one. The Beltway is a long way from Phoenix.

Romney, of course, doesn't have a Congressional voting record, so he doesn't show up. Advantage, Mitt.

Hat-tip: memeorandum