WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- The debate over government spending is heating up on the campaign trail and raising greater focus on which presidential candidate will really change the way Washington does business . Sen. John McCain has criticized politicians who request millions in so-called earmarks . But will that sway the American electorate ? Sen. John McCain has been a crusader against so-called earmarks and says his opponent , Sen. Barack Obama , has asked for almost $ 1 billion in pork-barrel projects for his state in just less than four years in the Senate . `` Nearly a million dollars for every day that he 's been in office ! And that 's change ? My friends , do n't be fooled , '' McCain said September 9 . Earmarks are requests for money by a specific legislator , usually for her or his constituency , added onto often-unrelated government spending bills . According to the nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense , Obama has asked for nearly $ 1 billion in earmarks during his Senate term . But the group gives him credit for disclosing his requests , which most members of Congress do n't do . Obama has not made any requests for the next fiscal year , and even when he was asking for earmarks , he was far from the worst offender , the group says . `` Just to put it into perspective , he got $ 98 million worth of earmarks in fiscal year 2008 . Sen. [ Hillary ] Clinton got more than $ 300 million in earmarks , and Sen. [ Thad ] Cochran , Republican of the [ Senate ] Appropriations Committee , got $ 800 million in earmarks , '' Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense said . Obama 's running mate , Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware , does n't come close to that . But Biden also has never disclosed what he 's asked for , until this year . Biden 's office said he 's requesting about $ 300 million . The Obama campaign points out that although McCain has n't asked for earmarks , his running mate hardly has room to talk . Watch McCain rail against earmarks » . `` When you 've been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you 're the champion anti-earmark person , that is not change , '' Obama said Monday . According to state records and Taxpayers for Common Sense , Alaska Gov . Sarah Palin has asked for about $ 450 million in federal money since she became governor . But she also gets some credit . `` As governor , she has , by all records , started to reduce the number of earmark requests ... so it 's a downward trajectory by our analysis but still significant earmark requests , '' Ellis said . Palin also got into the earmarking game early , before she became governor . According to state records and Taxpayers for Common Sense , she helped get about $ 27 million , some of which went to the small Alaskan town of Wasilla , during her second term as mayor there , from 1998 to 2002 . The watchdog group said one of the reasons was that she hired a lobbying firm run by a former staffer for Sen. Ted Stevens , R-Alaska , one of Washington 's most legendary earmarkers .
McCain has railed against politicians requesting earmarks . Watchdog group says Obama requested nearly half a billion in earmarks . Obama campaign says Sarah Palin is also a player in earmark game . Watchdog group : Earmarks are not new to Washington.