Democrats Barack Obama (web|news|bio) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (web|news|bio) on Monday joined Republican presidential candidate John McCain (web|news|bio) and a small band of GOP senators in making a run this week against the billions of dollars in home-state pet projects Congress funds each year. Obama, locked in a head-to-head battle with Clinton for the Democratic nomination, was the first to declare through a spokesman Monday that he would support a one-year moratorium on so-called earmarks when it comes up for a vote later this week. Clinton followed shortly afterward through a spokesman.
"We can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress' seniority, rather than the merit of the project," Obama said in a statement. "We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it."http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0308/502707.html