The National Journal commits heresy this morning with a piece suggesting that U.S. Rep. Paul “Lies From the Pit of Hell” Broun – the only formally announced candidate in next year’s race for U.S. Senate – isn’t as conservative as his brimstone rhetoric suggests:

Broun is just the 175th most conservative member of the House on this year's list, lagging far behind his GOP colleagues who are taking a look at the Senate seat: Reps. Phil Gingrey (52nd), Jack Kingston (55th), Tom Price (59th) and Tom Graves (68th). That distance could come into play in a Republican primary that's expected to feature at least three, if not all five congressmen.

This section from NJ’s methodology may explain the above rankings:

Keep in mind that no single measure of voting behavior is likely to be perfect. For instance, some House Republicans occasionally voted against budget-cutting measures last year because they didn’t think the bills reduced spending enough. In so doing, they voted against the overwhelming majority of House conservatives and with the overwhelming majority of House liberals (who opposed the measures because they thought the bills cut spending too much). In such cases, their votes were counted as liberal because they voted with liberals.

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