It's 3am and the economy is calling; do you know where your 20 billion is?

John Dickerson of Slate asked during a Clinton conference call with Communications director Howard Wolfson, as he did with the earlier 3:00 am ad:

When has Hillary Clinton ever answered the phone at 3:00 am before regarding an economic crisis?

Wolfson responded (without the "pregnant pause") that unless one is president, "you don't have a single moment" like answering the phone at 3:00 am. He went on to add that Clinton "has a lifetime of experience, both in and out of the White House... Ultimately, voters make this decision." And that "Voters have made this decision, based on the results of Ohio and Texas, that Sen. Clinton passed this test."

Thankfully it's not solely up to Ohio and Texas.

Dickerson, being the tenations little bugger he is,  followed up asking the Clinton campaign to be more specific and offer an example when Clinton responded to an economic crisis. Wolfson, not skipping a beat, cited her efforts to ensure that New York got the resources it needed after 9/11.

"There is much, much credit to go around," he said. "But. Sen. Clinton certainly did her part."

When is someone going to tell these guys about the internet? More below the fold.

Hillary Clinton has called securing $20 billion from the federal government to help New York City recover after the 9/11 attacks her proudest moment. But was it? There once was a study which suggested that most of the 9/11 money Clinton managed to wangle from the Bush administration has been wasted. A four-month investigation back in '05 by New York's Daily News revealed that the process for distributing the $21.4 billion disaster recovery package was "procedurally flawed". It goes on to claim there was "little oversight there was over the spending."

"In effect, no one was watching," the News said - including Mrs. Clinton.

As a result, 9/11 recovery aid went to what might charitably be considered pork barrel projects. And with today's release of the Pig Papers this is hardly a surprise.

What might be surprising is how that money was spent/lost.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on projects that seemingly had nothing to do with 9/11 and lower Manhattan.

Millions more went to help projects already in the works before 9/11 or on the drawing board with no prior funding source.

Substantial sums were given to companies to stay in lower Manhattan even though they had no intention of leaving.

Huge contracts were given to companies and organizations linked to the very officials tasked with deciding how to spend the money.

The 9/11 expenditure report should have been a huge black eye for Sen. Clinton as she was gearing up for her 2008 presidential campaign. But it's hard for the media to keep track of all these detractors and it seems that this story was (masterfully) swept under the rug.

Remember, she touted the 9/11 aid package as her biggest accomplishment as Senator.

Asked to describe her proudest achievement two months after the attacks, Clinton didn't miss a beat.

"The fight that we've had to wage on behalf of New York's needs since September 11 has, you know, focused every cell in my body," she told CNN. "That honor was just, you know, extraordinary, to be able to stand on the floor of the Senate and speak on behalf of the people who had demonstrated what America stands for so well."

Clinton did confess that the $20 billion figure she and Schumer came up with wasn't based on any actual assessment of need, but instead was pretty much arbitrary.

"If [the Bush administration was] going to give $20 billion to fight the [war on terror], I figured they could give $20 billion to help rebuild the city - and it's as good a number as any," she told the News.

Instead of keeping her eye on how the 9/11 cash was being spent, Mrs. Clinton pressed Washington for an additional $20 billion in aid, boasting that she and her New York colleagues had shown themselves to be good stewards of federal aid money.

"We have cleaned up the [World Trade Center] site ahead of schedule and below budget, and I think that is the best selling point we have," Mrs. Clinton told reporters in May 2002.

Of the first $20 billion, she told CNN:

"I don't believe that is anywhere near sufficient."

"Our needs are so much greater, and particularly when it comes to rebuilding New York. We have not only the World Trade Center site to think of, we have all the underground damage that destroyed subway lines, the path train coming from New Jersey. We're going to have a lot of expensive rebuilding."

How is she going to help fix the economy?