Harry Mitchell, No. 221½.

Democrat Reps. Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords have established themselves as true moderates during their first six months in the U.S. House, according to an op-ed piece headlined “For Freshmen, Fresh Voting,” by John Fortier, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

In fact, Fortier writes that he was surprised to find that most of the freshman Democrats in the House are voting on the conservative side of their party. “None of the 30 Democrats who replaced Republicans are among the most liberal 20 percent of Congress,” Fortier writes.

Fortier bases his findings on Voteview, a statistical rating compiled by political scientists Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal, who have been in the congressional ranking business for decades. Their latest rankings are based on the House members’ voting records during the first six months of 2007.

Fortier compares the new Democrats’ voting records against their Republican predecessors’ records. “Among the biggest changes, J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., and Chris Chocola, R-Ind., who had voting records among the 10 percent most conservatives, have been replaced by Harry Mitchell, D, and Joe Donnelly, D, respectively, who rank almost exactly in the middle of the 110^th Congress,” Fortier writes.

A little background is in order here. Voteview ranks all 435 members of the House each session, though Poole told me the rankings frequently include more than 435 spots to account for representatives who serve part of their terms, leave office and are replaced by others.

The most liberal representative is assigned the rank of 1. The most conservative representative is assigned the rank of 435, or higher if circumstances dictate. Using that scale, here’s how the
Arizona delegation ranked during the first half of 2007:

Raul Grijalva, Democrat, tied with four others for 26½.

Ed Pastor, Democrat, tied with nine others for 77½.

Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat, 219.

Harry Mitchell, Democrat, tied with one other for 221½.

Rick Renzi, Republican, 261.

Trent Franks, Republican, 426.

John Shadegg, Republican, 432.

Jeff Flake, Republican, 433.

Statistically, the middle of the pack is 217½, so both Giffords and Mitchell fell into the conservative half of both the Democrats and the entire House. Another interesting note is that the latest Voteview rankings only had 434 spots because of ties, so Flake was the second-most conservative at 433, while Shadegg was the third-most conservative at 432. The most conservative spot was held, as it has been for the past several years, by presidential candidate Ron Paul, R-Texas.

Poole told me the rankings are based on an optimal classification algorithm, which I suppose means something to people who know what that means. “It’s one of those things where the reason why it’s not out there more in the mass press … is our method is based upon statistical basis that are not real easy to explain, but are far more precise than all those other ways to measure,” he said.

I’ll take his word for it.

Anyway, Fortier’s piece is available here: www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,publD.27087/pub_detail.asp

The Voteview rankings and more background on the researchers’ optimal classification algorithm are available here: www.voteview.com

David Schweikert has proven that running for political office is anything but a solitary endeavor. Consider the effects his just-launched congressional campaign has had on the women of his life – his wife and his mother.

Schweikert, 45, was married for the first time just a year ago. He told me that his new wife Joyce encouraged him to run in a crowded Republican field in Arizona’s 5^th Congressional District, but she might not have been fully just aware what a congressional campaign meant for the happy couple.

Schweikert said, “She’s just now had her first taste of some of the carpet-bombing in the blogs and other things. I’m trying to say, ‘Look, this is how our democracy works today. It’s dysfunctional, full-contact sport.’”

Just keep repeating this: For better or worse. For better or worse. For better or worse.

Also, Schweikert’s mother Lee has been struggling to figure out why he decided to run. They’ve had a number of conversations on the topic.

He said, “I’m starting to believe my mother’s theory. I’m an adopted kid, so she likes this theory. She says, ‘You have a genetic defect.’ And it’s not her fault. You know how must of us, when we’re little kids growing up, sometimes say, ‘I sure hope I’m adopted and not actually related to you!’ In this case, it’s just the reverse. My mother’s going, ‘I’m so happy you’re adopted and not related to me!’ That’s actually 100 percent true.”

And election day is still 12 months away…

Jeff Flake (Courtsey Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce/Vermillion Photography)

Rep. Jeff Flake, who grew up on a ranch in Snowflake, is duded up in blue jeans on the cover of the November issue of Impact Magazine, a publication of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. The headline: “Maverick: Arizonan Jeff Flake is a Different Voice in D.C.”

Hey, it wasn’t that long ago that another politician from Arizona had exclusive personal rights to the “Maverick” treatment. Yep, there’s a new maverick in town, pardner.

Anyway, reporter David Lucas writes, “As with most of the native Arizonans (Flake) represents, he has a streak of independence that is manifested in his voting record. On votes for fiscal policy considered beneficial to taxpayers, he has been ranked number one out of 435 members of the House of Representatives for the past three years by the National Taxpayers Union.”

Lucas also writes about Flake’s campaign against earmarks and notes that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has given Flake a 67 percent pro-business rating.

Jon Kyl (second from right) at a previous press conference

Sen. Jon Kyl and other Republicans staged a press conference in Washington on Wednesday to question why a provision to provide $3 million for border enforcement was stripped from a defense spending bill.

Kyl and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina authored the provision last month as an amendment to the defense spending bill. The Senate passed it 95-1, but the amendment was removed during a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill.

Kyl, Graham and the others blamed Democrats.

Speaking at the press conference, Kyl said, “There is no question about where the American people are on the issue of securing our border and ensuring that people can’t smuggle drugs into the country, that criminals can’t come in – bear  in mind that between 10 and 15 percent of the people who illegally cross the border are people with criminal records, serious criminal records – and that terrorist can’t get in.”

Kyl told reporters that the border funding is matter of national security.

He said, “It’s our first obligation as a Congress. And yet you see in the DOD bill, the Democrats taking this critical funding out of the bill.  Now they had their political reasons to do that.  But those political reasons, I suggest to you, don’ begin to rise to the level of the anger of the American people when they realize what they have done here. Put this to a vote of the American people, and see how they vote on what this Democrat majority has done.”

The $3 billion would have gone toward:

– Enough hires to bring the total number of full-time Border Patrol agents to 23,000

– 700 miles of fencing by the end of fiscal 2009

– Completion of the fence along the California-Mexico border

– 300 miles of vehicle barriers

– 105 ground-based radar and camera towers

– Holding cells to detain 45,000 illegal immigrants daily

– Funding to reimburse states and localities for reimbursable expenses

– $60 million to states to help employers comply with employee verification requirements