Pork Barrel Foes Gain Backers in Senate

GOP USA, March 13, 2008 by Julie Hirschfeld Davis (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The foot soldiers in this week's push to abolish pork-barrel politics -- a campaign whose most prominent champion is John McCain -- are two rookie Republican senators whose scrappy tactics have drawn the ire of lawmakers in both parties. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, both conservative transplants from the House, have stalled and stymied their way to notoriety over the past two years by going after home-state projects, known as ''earmarks,'' that other senators try to slip into legislation. Continued...