Rep. McCollum ties for ‘most liberal’ in National Journal rankings

Sure, it’s a 12-way tie, but Minnesota can now boast (or grimace, depending on your political leanings) that it’s represented by the most liberal member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Fourth District Rep. Betty McCollum is among the dozen Democrats sharing the top slot in National Journal’s annual rankings of congressional members based on how they voted on 78 key bills. Rep. Keith Ellison, also a Democrat, is in the second tier, tying with seven others for 13th most liberal, while the rest of the delegation ranks much lower: Democrats Rep. James Oberstar (35), Tim Walz (175) and Colin Peterson (210), and Republicans Jim Ramstad (235), John Kline (395) and Michele Bachmann (396, or 36th most conservative).

On the Senate side, rankings are essentially what you’d expect: Out of 100 senators, Democrat Amy Klobuchar ranked 37th most liberal, while former Sen. Norm Coleman is listed as 38th most conservative (59th most liberal).

McCollum can’t be all that liberal; back in January, she was nominated for the supply-side Club for Growth’s spoof big-government award, the “Comrade of the Month,” but lost out to Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, who, tying with Ellison, didn’t even crack the top 10 in National Journal’s report.