Taxpayer champ and anti-earmark crusader Congressman Jeff Flake today struck back at Congressman David Obey's "Check Yes or No for Earmarks" Dear Colleague with this clever response:

Meanwhile, the Senate is preparing to vote today on Sen. Jim DeMint's big earmark moratorium amendment. If you haven't already contacted your Senators, do it right now right here! It looks like you may only have a few hours, though - I just got this from Sen. DeMint;s office:

Senators DeMint and McCain asked for an early vote today on the earmark moratorium, which is the only amendment with the support of all three presidential candidates. The GOP side agreed to the request, but we have been told that Majority Leader Reid refused to allow a vote until late tonight.

"This is so shameless. Supporters of the status quo are trying to hide in the dark of night. Their white-knuckled grip on pork-barrel spending would be funny if it weren't so pathetic," said Wesley Denton, spokesman for Senator DeMint.

The bipartisan amendment would force an earmark moratorium for Fiscal Year 2009. The amendment is sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and cosponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Arizona), Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Barack Obama (D-Illinois), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Evan Bayh (D-Indiana), Mel Martinez (R-Florida), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) and Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma).