Arizona's 1st Congressional District is one of the most picturesque places on earth, a panoramic of desert moonscapes and rolling forests populated by working people not too particular about the party that represents them.

That makes this one of the most competitive districts in America, where political brand is no guarantee of victory. More than most places, this part of the state has a habit of switching from Democrat to Republican and back.

So the person who represents it had better speak the language of the right and left and broad, rugged middle.

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick speaks that language. She embodies her district in both tone and mindset, and turned a pair of beat-up old cowboy boots she bought as an 18 year old into the perfect metaphor for her authenticity.

Her opponent, former House Speaker Andy Tobin, has painted her as a rabid partisan Democrat and puppet to Barack Obama. But her actions speak otherwise.

Kirkpatrick has worked admirably across the aisle with her colleague Republican Paul Gosar to promote legislation to advance a huge copper mine and job generator for rural Arizona. Her support of that effort brings howls from environmentalists, but she is focused on the most critical needs of District 1 constituents — jobs.

That also led her to stand against EPA heavy-handedness on the Navajo Generating Station.

Long before the Veterans Affairs scandal erupted, Kirkpatrick was a ranking member of the House Veterans Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigation, pushing to get rid of a backlog of cases that required the average veteran to wait more than 250 days for a decision on a health-care claim.

Her position on that panel means she is well-placed to ensure the bipartisan reforms recently passed by Congress are implemented.

On immigration, she supports the bipartisan Senate compromise, passed last year, and is willing to make concessions, such as creating a legal status short of citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Kirkpatrick proved her loyalty to party when she voted for the Affordable Care Act.

But that law despised by conservatives is serving a district where many low-income peoples are finally enjoying the security of health insurance.

The ACA has problems, she admits, and supports corrective legislation to make it better.

Ann Kirkpatrick is right for rural Arizona and right for District 1. She deserves a return engagement to Congress. Recently she threw her feet up on a debate table to show off her boots. Yes, it was tactical and purely contrived. But those boots are real.