Yesterday, Instapundit pointed out that Democratic Congressman Ralph Hall had switched to the Republican party. Reynolds asked, "Is this evidence of how the wind is blowing, too?"

Maybe, but Hall, who is hardly your typical Democrat, can't be considered an accurate bellwether. Each year the American Conservative Union publishes the ratings of each member of the House and Senate. The scores are rated on a scale of 0 to 100, based on actual votes cast on a wide range of issues and are designed to show how members vote on all the major issues to gauge their adherence to conservative principles. For example, Tom Delay (R-TX) has a lifetime score of 96 while Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) has a score of 3.

Only three Democrats have a lifetime score over 70.* Hall, who has been in Congress for 22 years, has the highest at 83. In 2002, his rating was 96, making him the "The Democrat's Delay."

While I applaud the change, it won't matter much since Hall has tended to vote with the Republicans anyway. He is a Democrat in name but married to Republican ideals. The only difference is that redistricting has forced him to drop the pose.

*Charlie Stenholm (D-TX), who I predicted will be the next to switch parties, has a score of 71. Ken Lucas (D-KY) has a score of 74.

Update: Mark Byron comes to the same conclusion.

Update 2: I had erroneously claimed that Dr. Byron considered Hall a Dixicrat. I've deleted that statement and apologized for the error.