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Kerry not the most liberal senator

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry does not have the most liberal voting record in the Senate, National Journal reported Monday.

The political trade paper said despite its giving Kerry the highest composite liberal score in the Senate for 2003, the label of "most liberal senator" that has been attached to the candidate is misleading.

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The claim that Kerry is the most liberal senator has received a great deal of media attention during recent months and has become a catch phrase used by Republicans to attack the Democratic candidate.

National Journal editor Charlie Green said Kerry actually missed 37 of the 62 votes used to calculate the rankings, which were weighted.

And while Kerry has been found to have the most liberal voting record during other years -- 1986, 1988, and 1990 -- his lifetime average score placed him 11th among the current Senate Democrats in terms of the overall liberalness of his voting record.

His running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, ranks 27th among the 48 Democratic senators.

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