"
The list of governors threatening to decline federal stimulus money last month read like a list of Republicans considering running for president in 2012: Govs. Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin led the anti-stimulus charge.
But what began with a bang is ending with something closer to
a whimper. All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degrees, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to
the pull of political reality.
And in the end, along with
other conservative Republican governors,
the three submitted letters in recent days
asking to be eligible for federal funds, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed."
