Glenn Reynolds has a post up pointing to a Mark Tapscott post about Trent Lott’s tantrum over the temerity of those who question things like a $700 million earmark to persuade CSX Corporation to give up one of its rail lines so a highway can be built there instead. (The full AP report is here.

Reynolds writes of Lott’s annoyance with Porkbusters (the Mississippi Senator said he was “getting damned tired of hearing from them”):

I guess he’s hearing from people he’d rather not. You know, the ones who don’t have their checkbooks out.

This isn’t the first time (see here, for example) that the suggestion has been made that there’s a connection between campaign contributors and pork barrel projects. I suspect that’s more likely to be true in Defense earmarks than Transportation, but I think it’s worth exploring whether this is the case.

So, let’s add to the list of things to do today an attempt to figure out whether that’s the case–whether Lott’s motives have as much to do with contributor service as it does with serving constituents…