The Senate, October 20, 2005
Powerful senators gather on the floor including Ted Stevens, Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), Delaware Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).
Tom Coburn adds a Senate Appropriations amendment that would remove funds for Stevens' $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere." Coburn wants to send the money to New Orleans, in order to rebuild the Interstate 10 bridge, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
An angry Stevens threatens to resign if he doesn't get his way. 
Senator John McCain, an opponent of Stevens and the Bridge to Nowhere, is not in the Senate the day Coburn raises his amendment. But McCain is on record as opposing the construction of the Alaskan bridge. McCain wants to help the victims of Katrina by rebuilding the I-10 bridge.
And his relationship with Stevens on the subject of earmarks has also been fiery.
Most of the Senate is intimidated by the power of Stevens, who is the Appropriations Chairman, and the body votes 82-15 to proceed with Stevens' $223 earmark.
Senators Obama and Biden both vote with Stevens -- both vote for the Bridge to Nowhere.Alaska, 2006
Stevens ally, former Senate colleague and current Republican Governor Frank Murkowski is challenged in his re-election bid by a young Alaska mother, former mayor of a small town and ex-chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
That mother, Sarah Palin, had resigned as chair over a "lack of ethics" by another commission member and state GOP chairman. She filed formal complaints against both the GOP chair and the state's attorney general. Both men are forced to resign.Disgusted over the endemic corruption, Palin challenges Stevens' friend Murkowski and wins the governorship.Consider these two stories.
And then ask yourself: Who represents change? Who represents a high standard of ethics and cleaning up government? And who represents the status quo?
Based upon: The Palin Threat: Real Change, by Jeffrey Lord. Via: Jerry.
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