The Los Angeles Times has a page one story today on Hillary Clinton’s efforts to be seen as a centrist:

In New York, where she is running for reelection in 2006, and in the Senate, where she is shaping her national persona, Clinton is moving to shed the partisan image she acquired as first lady.

She has taken up causes such as economic development and military overhaul that are nonpartisan or more centrist than her work in championing a national healthcare plan while her husband was president. She is teaming with local Republican officials and with some of the Senate’s most conservative members.

Those efforts are beginning to pay off in New York. Her approval ratings have jumped significantly since she was elected in 2000 — even among Republicans. It is a sign that Clinton, one of the most polarizing political figures in America, has found a way to get a second look from New York voters.

As Patterico points out, this is the LAT’s 2d Hillary-as-centrist story in two weeks.

Could it be true? Could she have been on the center-left all along? As we like to do at Independent Sources, let’s look at the data, courtesy of Scrutineer and our own research. Mulit-issue conservative and liberal interest groups rate her as follows:

* 2001 is a dead link on the ADA site, but in 2002-2004, Clinton received identical 95 scores.
** Also no 2001 data. She received an 85 in 2002, 81 in 2003, and 95 in 2004.

The website Progressive Punch has a rating tool that scores based on how often a member votes with the most liberal members; using it, Senator Clinton scores 91%. This makes her the 9th most liberal member of the Senate, scoring higher than Tom Harkin (D-IA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) (Barbara Boxer, D-Marin County, is #4 with a 95).

So while Senator Clinton may want to be perceived as a centrist, in the Senate she still votes left.

Even though the LAT story was about the shift in Clinton’s image, the omission of her actual voting record is extremely odd, because it would have established that her new centrist persona is all marketing. This is at best sloppy and at worst lefty media bias, for as the article stands, it actually aids the “Hillary = moderate” media campaign.

If this is how the mainstream press is going to handle her (presumed) candidacy, watch out!

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton, liberal

This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2005 at 12:26 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Los Angeles Times, Election 2008 Live Team Coverage!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.