For those of you wondering why we call Oklahoma's only Democrat in Congress, Dan Boren, a DINO (Democrat In Name Only), and last year's reminder wasn't enough, here's a new one:

Feb 03, 2006: WASHINGTON - Rep. Dan Boren, a freshman Democrat from Muskogee, voted against his party last year more than any other member of the U.S. House, according to a recent study by Congressional Quarterly's weekly magazine.

Boren voted against the Democrats on 41 percent of the study's "party unity" votes, siding with the majority of Republicans on those votes.

According to CQ Weekly, the magazine that covers Capitol Hill, Boren sided with President Bush 65 percent of the time on votes where the president had a clear position -- the second most of any Democrat in the House.

Boren is the only Democrat in the seven-member Oklahoma congressional delegation, and last year he was the only one whose party loyalty score was less than 90 percent.

In other words, on party-line issues, every other representative and senator from Oklahoma votes with his (Republican) party more than 90% of the time, and only one (unnamed) Democrat in the House backs George W. Bush more often than Boren does. Markos would say we need Democrats like Boren because he'll vote for Speaker Pelosi, and that's true - but while we're in opposition, he's pretty damn useless.