It's amazing and heartening how a stint as head of a cash-strapped state has transformed Gov. Mark Sanford's attitude about federal pork. Flanked Tuesday by three Republican members of Congress and Democratic State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, Sanford announced that the state has scored a federal Reading First grant of at least $28 million. The setting: a Columbia elementary school. It was a feel-good moment.

This money benefits kindergartners through third-graders at 36 S.C. elementary schools with large populations from lower-income families. The state could garner $60 million more from Reading First, a high-intensity reading program, if schools can show the initial money leveraged positive measurable reading results. This assumes that Congress continues putting money into the Reading First program, which it may not.

The timing was magnificent. S.C. legislators have sucked a lot of state aid out of the public schools the past few years and stand ready to suck out more. That "free" federal money will replace at least a few of those dollars will hearten South Carolinians who worry state-aid cutbacks could harm marginal students.

Sanford was not a pork-barreling fan in his six-year stint as 1st District representative to the U.S. House. Some local leaders think this attitude hurt the Grand Strand, especially on highway construction and development. By leading Tuesday's ceremony, Sanford signaled an understanding that federal largesse is not inherently evil.

True, the whole business, as old as the republic itself, seems cynical: Members of Congress use our own money to attempt to buy our loyalty and votes.

But if the voters truly hated pork barreling, it would cease.

As a poor state, South Carolina needs all the federal help its congressional delegation can corral. Sanford's willingness to be part of that spectacle bodes well for the state - and for his governorship.