What a Difference a [Y]ear Makes The coverage of yesterday Congressional GOP retreat in Roll Call make clear the about-face that party leaders are making on earmarks. Republican leaders ... made it clear during the retreat that they would not support any effort by President Bush to strip earmarks from this year's omnibus bill and saw no need to overhaul the practice... arguing any move [by Bush] to eliminate the earmarks would be an inappropriate infringement on Congress' authority to appropriate funding. A Senator attending the retreat said later, "to the extent that the floor was open I didn't hear much opposition... I kept expecting to hear someone say 'yeah but earmarks are evil,' but I didn't." What a difference a year -- an election year -- makes.