Is pork as popular as politicians seem to think?
The heroic helpings of lard in the 2005 transportation bill (known as TEA-LU or “Don Young’s slush fund”) did little to save Republicans in 2006. And the billions in contracts from the stimulus package is not saving Democrats in 2010.
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Perhaps some of them are figuring this out now, putting a damper on President Obama’s grand plan to roll out an extra $50 billion slush fund for government contractors and unions just ahead of the election. Democratic candidates aren’t going for it. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has already said no, and now Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat trailing in her Senate bid, has followed suit:
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D), who is locked in a tight Senate race with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), told The Associated Press that the plan “doesn’t seem like a practical way to solve what is a huge problem in our country with this continuing high levels [sic] of unemployment and lagging economic activity.”
