Club for Growth once called Heller a liberal, but now he's one of the group's main men

It seems like yesterday.

The year was 2006. A maverick secretary of state named Dean Heller was seeking a vacant congressional seat as incumbent Jim Gibbons sought the governorship.

Heller was the anointed choice, but there were two obstacles: Gibbons' wife, Dawn, and a backbencher assemblywoman named Sharron Angle filed against him in the primary for the guaranteed GOP seat.

Heller would have won easily except for one factor: The Club for Growth spent a million bucks against him, calling him a tax-loving liberal.

The outside money almost cost him the race, which he won by 400 votes over Angle. You might say he has grown from the experience -- metamorphosing into a Club for Growth favorite, as the group's ratings released today indicate. A liberal no more, Heller is a lifetime near-hero to the CFG. All it took was that Angle scare.

The rest of the delegation's scores are below -- not many surprises, unless you did not know that Rep. Joe Heck was more middle-of-the-road on CFG issues.