Monument to a Bygone Era

John McCain, take note: Right here on the Ole Miss campus, not 1,000 feet from tonight’s debate site, stands a monument to another age in American history. (No, this has nothing to do with James Meredith.)

It’s the Thad Cochran Research Center, fortuitously named for Mississippi’s senior senator — the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and one of the greatest earmarkers in American history.

Just last year, Cochran helped deliver the University of Mississippi 27 earmarks worth a total of $37 million. (According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, only one college in the country did better last year — Mississippi State University.)

The tax dollars funneled to Ole Miss pays for such urgent federal priorities as $125,000 for the university’s music archive; $500,000 for the Center for Innovation Excellence (which doesn’t open until) December 2010; $2.5 million to train judges and prosecutors in handling electronic and computer crimes; and $10.2 million for the National Center for Natural Products Research — which is housed at the Thad Cochran Research Center.

Given the anti-earmark fervor on the campaign trail these days, the University of Mississippi is almost certainly going to have to learn to do more with less under the next administration. That’s particularly true of Cochran’s favored candidate — McCain — is elected president.

Cochran, and those here are quick to remember is no particular fan of McCain. Last January, he told The Boston Globe: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. . . . He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

After supporting Mitt Romney during the primaries, Cochran ultimately endorsed McCain — but we’ll let you know if we see him pop up on campus as a surrogate today. In the meantime, his research center is an interesting detour.