Barely blue dog Matheson

If you are among the Utahns who thought Rep. Jim Matheson is a Republican, you would be wrong.

If you’re among the Republicans who always thought Jim is masquerading as a conservative Democrat,  but is really the tool of Satan—or at least Nancy Pelosi—you are mostly wrong—probably.

At least that’s what a study done by a Brigham Young University egghead has found. Adam Brown, a research fellow with the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, threw some science at the usual political yammering about Matheson—who is under threat of being deposed by Republican Mia Love. No data on Love, who  remains a cypher herself, a Haitian-American anchor baby who is running to the far, far right.

Says Brown:

“It is readily apparent that Matheson is among the most conservative Democrats in the US House. Of 194 Democrats presently serving, only 4 have a score more conservative than Matheson’s. Whether that makes him a ‘conservative’ in absolute terms rather than relative terms is, of course, in the eye of the beholder.”

The highly exciting and sexy graph above tells the story: Matheson is just barely on Democratic turf.

You can get more explanation and graphs here.