However, I would still say she is far left. Year in and year out, she has been ranked among the 10 most liberal senators. That's some pretty good company. Perception (though lies) isn't the reality here.

She has a perfect 100 pro-abortion score with NARAL Pro-Choice America. She received an 'A' (excellent) on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues. She is best friends with the gay Human Rights Campaign lobby. The League of Conservation Voters has given her a lifetime 90 percent pro-environment action rating through 2006. Americans for Better Immigration has given her a lifetime grade of 'D-' (very near failing) through October 2007 on their Immigration-Reduction Report Card. She gets an F from the National Rifle Association. On fiscal issues, she gets an F from the National Taxpayers Union, a 14-percent score from Citizens Against Government Waste, and only a 6.7 percent score from Americans for Tax Reform. Her lifetime American Conservative Union rating is 8 percent. Through 2006, she has an average lifetime 96 percent "Liberal Quotient" from Americans for Democratic Action. (Her numbers dropped in 2007 and 2008 because of missed votes in the Senate while running for President. Still, as a comparison, she received a 75% score in 2007, the same as President Obama. In 2008, surely missing even more votes, she received a 70%. Obama? Try 45%).

The point is, you don’t like Senator Clinton, fine. You were so in love with Senator Obama during the campaign that you deluded yourself into thinking Hillary was the enemy, Hillary was not a Democrat, anyone but Hillary, give me more, more, more Obama! You are crazy. Hillary has been called a lot of names, but being called a conservative is a bit ridiculous. In fact, many political pundits and strategists thought that Hillary might be a risky choice as a nominee because she was too liberal to win a majority of the nation.

Perhaps this is about the “one vote”—you know, that one vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Just for fun, a list of names of the 58% of Senate democrats who voted the same way:

Max Baucus(MT), Evan Bayh (IN), Joseph Biden (DE), John Breaux(LA), Maria Cantwell(WA), Jean Carnahan(MO), Thomas Carper(DE), J. Cleland, (GA), Hillary Clinton(NY), Thomas Daschle(SD), Christopher Dodd(CT), Byron Dorgan(ND), John Edwards(NC), Dianne Feinstein(CA), Thomas Harkin(IA), Ernest Hollings(SC), Tim Johnson(SD), John Kerry(MA), Herbert Kohl(WI), Mary Landrieu(LA), Joseph Lieberman(CT), Blanche Lincoln(AR), Zell Miller(GA), Ben Nelson(NE), Bill Nelson(FL), Harry Reid(NV), John Rockefeller(WV), Charles Schumer(NY), Robert Torricelli(NJ).

She has a perfect 100 pro-abortion score with NARAL Pro-Choice America. She received an 'A' (excellent) on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues. She is best friends with the gay Human Rights Campaign lobby. The League of Conservation Voters has given her a lifetime 90 percent pro-environment action rating through 2006. Americans for Better Immigration has given her a lifetime grade of 'D-' (very near failing) through October 2007 on their Immigration-Reduction Report Card. She gets an F from the National Rifle Association. On fiscal issues, she gets an F from the National Taxpayers Union, a 14-percent score from Citizens Against Government Waste, and only a 6.7 percent score from Americans for Tax Reform. Her lifetime American Conservative Union rating is 8 percent. Through 2006, she has an average lifetime 96 percent "Liberal Quotient" from Americans for Democratic Action. (Her numbers dropped in 2007 and 2008 because of missed votes in the Senate while running for President. Still, as a comparison, she received a 75% score in 2007, the same as President Obama. In 2008, surely missing even more votes, she received a 70%. Obama? Try 45%).

The point is, you don’t like Senator Clinton, fine. You were so in love with Senator Obama during the campaign that you deluded yourself into thinking Hillary was the enemy, Hillary was not a Democrat, anyone but Hillary, give me more, more, more Obama! You are crazy. Hillary has been called a lot of names, but being called a conservative is a bit ridiculous. In fact, many political pundits and strategists thought that Hillary might be a risky choice as a nominee because she was too liberal to win a majority of the nation.

Perhaps this is about the “one vote”—you know, that one vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Just for fun, a list of names of the 58% of Senate democrats who voted the same way:

Baucus, Max (MT), Evan Bayh (IN), Joseph Biden (DE), John Breaux, John (LA), Maria Cantwell, Maria (WA), Jean Carnahan, Jean (MO), Thomas Carper, Thomas (DE), J. Cleland, (GA), Hillary Clinton, Hillary (NY), Thomas Daschle, Thomas (SD), Christopher Dodd, Christopher (CT), Byron Dorgan, Byron (ND), John Edwards, John (NC), Dianne Feinstein, Dianne (CA), Thomas Harkin, Thomas (IA), Ernest Hollings, Ernest (SC), Tim Johnson, Tim (SD), John Kerry, John (MA), Herbert Kohl, Herbert (WI), Mary Landrieu, Mary (LA), Joseph Lieberman, Joseph (CT), Blanche Lincoln, Blanche (AR), Zell Miller, Zell (GA), Ben Nelson, Ben (NE), Bill Nelson, Bill (FL), Harry Reid, Harry (NV), John Rockefeller, John (WV), Charles Schumer, Charles (NY), Robert Torricelli, Robert (NJ).

In fact, he is barely a journalist. He is known for 'gaming' and 'predicting' the outcomes of elections. Even at that, he rarely presented new and compelling information that an educated person themselves could have found.

And Toobin? Toobin is a great read. But he is a partisan analyst, also not a journalist.

Of the 65 counties in New England (which holds a unanimous Democratic caucus of Congressmen), only ONE county (Piscataquis County of ME---it's smallest county, with 54% of the county's 8,000 voters) broke for McCain. That is 64 of 65 counties going for Obama.

In 2004, Bush won at least 19 counties in New England.

In contrast, there are 102 counties in Illinois. 52 (yes, a majority) tilted McCain.

Something interesting is happening in New England. Although always fairly safe territory for Democrats, it has also been a good place for moderate Republicans (especially Maine, New Hampshire, a smattering of Connecticut, and even rural areas of Vermont and the westernmost part of Massachusetts. See: G.H.W. Bush, Bill Weld, Mitt Romney, and the senators from Maine and NH).

My guess is that there are still some moderate or at least non-liberal thinkers out there. But with the deepening divide of political ideologies in America, perhaps moderate minded New Englanders are too smart to cede too much control to non-moderate Southerners and ruralites.

I suspect if this divide narrows, you may see some more moderation. But here's to hoping New England continues to be good political company!