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Saturday, March 8, 2008

Boyda: "The New Center"

Published today and on newsstands this weekend, The National Journal's 2007 Vote Ranking issue is out- and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda is on the cover.

The cover story, called "The New Center," puts Boyda smack dab in the middle of members of Congress in the magazine's annual most liberal/conservative ranking.

[Rep. Tim] Mahoney has plenty of freshman classmates to keep him company at the center, including Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan. She said she viewed her moderate ranking as "third-party validation" of her nonpartisan approach, which, she emphasized, is "not based on ideology or beholden to a party."

"Kansans don't get involved in the politics," Boyda contended. "They want to know how the issues affect them." She is so independent that she has refused to join the House's moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats and has turned down entreaties to participate in party programs to promote her re-election. "I told [House Democratic Caucus Chairman] Rahm [Emanuel] in no uncertain language that I didn't care what he thought about how I should run my campaign," Boyda said. "I told him to leave me alone, and I won't tell him how to run [other] campaigns. After three weeks, he learned to leave me alone."

Boyda's centrism is all the more compelling because she defeated GOP Rep. Jim Ryun, who was the No. 1 most conservative House member in NJ's 2006 vote ratings. Ryun is trying to regain the seat this year, but he faces a primary challenge from a more moderate Republican.

Moving from a member on the radical extreme (Ryun as #1 most conservative) to Boyda in the very middle of the body, is a refreshing change for Kansans, who, certainly, are better represented by a centrist than by a radical on either end of the spectrum.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda: 203rd most liberal, 227th most conservative. Exactly where her district is: exactly in the middle of the country.

[Update: Congresswoman Boyda's office included the following information in a press release sent out announcing the cover story and we wanted to pass it along:
(Please note that the mention of the Blue Dog Coalition is slightly inaccurate. Nancy did apply for membership in the Blue Dog Coalition early last year, and at the time the Blue Dogs had reached their membership limit. Since then Nancy has found that not being a Blue Dog has helped to preserve her independence.)
We think the other blog covering this race needs to issue a retraction..but, well, we know they won't.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

National Review isn't a legitimate publication, but I guess any good publicity is welcome.

Anonymous said...

lol...well, we appreciate your opinion...however off the wall it might be.

Anonymous said...

Who is "we"? The republicans? Because National Review is nothing but a right-wing tabloid.

Anonymous said...

i disagree...i thought it was pretty non-partisan

Anonymous said...

Uh, the story is from the National Journal not the National Review.

Anonymous said...

I was so afraid for a minute I'd mistyped the name of the magazine...but, no, it's just a commenter with a bad attention span.

Anonymous said...

i, for one, wish she was more liberal than she is...but, it's true, she's probably exactly where her district is...and one of th reasons Ryun was such a bad fit.

Anonymous said...

Well, I was incorrect when I said National Review instead of National Journal, but my point remains the same. Any publicity is good publicity, but it's coming from a right-wing tabloid. Their b.s. about Obama being the most liberal member of the Senate should tell you that they either don't know what they're talking about or they're blinded by partisan politics. Either way, they should be ignored.

Anonymous said...

National Journal is a well-respected magazine built for inside the beltway types....not a right-wing rag.

the rating system isn't perfect...which i don't think anyone needs spelled out for them. With that, boyda's votes are centrist votes, and we should be proud of that. she's right..this is independent verification of what we all already knew.

Anonymous said...

Retraction for what? Boyda issuing a press release that says, "Sorry I lied to the National Journal and got caught."? Too little, too late.

Anonymous said...

excuse me? retract because you called her a liar for a misprint in a magazine.

Anonymous said...

National Journal is certainly a magazine built for inside the beltway types, but it's far from well-respected, is not independent, and IS a right-wing tabloid. Just look back at their "most liberal" ratings over the years--they name the Democratic presidential front-runner the most liberal every election cycle. Their rating system is a joke and should be ignored.

This blog is not affiliated in any way with the Kansas Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, the Office of Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, or the campaign to re-elected Congresswoman Nancy Boyda. All commentary herein not directly attributed must be considered the opinion of the authors of this blog and not of any other individual, including Congresswoman Nancy Boyda.