Reihan Salam summarizes (1) Congress reversed its decision to earmark funds for the Bridge, but funds were still allocated under Alaska's state budget. Rather than seek federal and state funds for the bridge, Palin zeroed out the project over the objections of many powerful and influential Alaska Republicans. (2) Federal funding represented only a small portion of the funding for the bridge - in truth, termination of funding for the bridge was first and foremost (gasp) a move that benefited Alaska's own taxpayers, though it's certainly true that the federal funds will now go to other, hopefully worthier projects. (3) And Palin has worked to limit earmark requests for Alaska - total requested funding has fallen from $550 million to $200 million, which hardly seems trivial.