Ellington

The Clarion-Ledger buried the lead on their meeting with Sen. Thad Cochran today, reporting the, er, "news" that Cochran would support a fellow Republican as president and burying the juicy stuff at the bottom of the very shallow piece:

Some run-ins between Cochran and McCain have come over earmarks — a reference to congressional provisions that direct approved funds to be spent on specific projects. McCain has decried earmarks as "pork barrel spending" and has claimed he could immediately cut $100 billion from the federal budget by eliminating them. But if earmarks were done away with, Mississippi "would suffer," Cochran said. He pointed to world-class research facilities that have been located in Mississippi because of earmarks. McCain has suggested in the past that the only job of senators is to decide which parts of the administration's budget should remain, Cochran said. If that were the case, Mississippi would be left out, he said, and lawmakers would "just be decorations up there (in Washington)."

Previous Comments

ID

139001

Comment

Speaking of the Ledger, folks, have they run an actual campaign *issues* story, yet? Or has it all been surface horse-race coverage? Be sure to see our collection of issues stories to date on our Politics blog, and keep an eye on it between now and the election as more are added.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-10-13T16:02:45-06:00

ID

139013

Comment

Wait. Sid Salter is criticizing Ronnie Musgrove for being against earmarks; does this mean that Roger Wicker is not against them? And most importantly, has Salter criticized McCain for saying he's going to cut them all out? Or, is he cherrypicking Musgrove?

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-10-13T18:24:09-06:00

ID

139014

Comment

Andy Taggart is defending the earmarks, too. Think he's gotten McCain's anti-earmark memo, yet? Earth to Andy!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-10-13T18:36:10-06:00