Palin Earmarks Total $453M in 2 Years

Sarah Palin called them "un-American" and John McCain denied again Friday that she requested them as governor of Alaska. But the Wall Street Journal, doing the math on earmarks, finds that Palin sought $453 million of them for her state since taking office, including $197 million in the current fiscal year. And using the same calculation she applies to Barack Obama—earmark dollars sought per day in office—her record is worse than his.

Obama requested a total of $860 million in earmarks in his Senate years, the Journal says, but using the McCain campaign's strategy of dividing requests by days in office, Palin sought $980,000 per workday, compared to his roughly $893,000. McCain has never requested earmarks for the state of Arizona, and claimed on The View again Friday the same was true of his running mate. The campaign told the Journal, "If he gave viewers a mistaken impression, it certainly wasn't intentional," adding that she had cut back on earmarks requests compared to her predecessor.
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