Senator Gimme

From The Hill:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.

The Democratic presidential candidate’s staggering request comes at a time when Congress remains engaged in a heated debate over spending federal dollars on parochial projects.

Now: that’s how much she’s asked for, not how much she’s getting. The story doesn’t give much data on asked to got ratios.

Also, we should note that earmarks aren't necessarily bad. Clinton’s office said a lot of it is for security purposes.

Still, you wonder whether that was real wise for Clinton: it won’t hurt her in the primary, but if she moves on to the general…that’s gonna take the “un” out of “undecided” more than once.

Some speculation:

Clinton’s huge earmark requests have some speculating that the former first lady is preparing for a soft landing should she lose the Democratic primary to Obama and refocus her energy on winning a third Senate term.

Steve Ellis, a vice president at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group critical of earmarks, said the amount is not unusual for a senator hailing from a big state who has long secured pet projects.

… “There’s a decent chance that she is going to remain the senator from New York, and she needs to do what she can to stay the senator from New York.”

Even if it hurts her shot at the Presidency.

According to the story, Obama has requested $740 million in earmarks over three years. They’re bashing Clinton for not releasing numbers on her past requests.

I found the closing paragraph odd:

Last year, Obama took in $91 million while McCain earned nothing because he did not request any projects, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

“Earned?”