Oink Oink Oink

The annual report from Citizens Against Government Waste identifies a total of not quite $17.2 billion dollars in unnecessary, unrequested Federal spending, attributing $10.2 billion of it to particular line items requested by individual legislators to benefit their own constituents. The three worst individual offenders were Thad Cochran of Mississippi ($892 million); Ted Stevens of Alaska ($469 million) and Richard Shelby ($465 million). All three are Republicans. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton weighed in thirteenth overall with $296 million; Barack Obama was still in the top quintile of Congress at # 69 ($97 million). John McCain was one of only five senators who didn't spend a single pork-barrel dollar.

Earmarks, wasteful government spending, and an emphasis on the balanced budget could be really nice issues for McCain, who has substantial credibility on that kind of turf.