Why would link title = link text?

I keep running into this and today I just couldn't hold the question in 
anymore.

Why would you bother setting the title attribute on an <a> tag to the same 
value as the link text of the <a> tag?

Example: just about every link on http://www.firstgov.gov/

Bill Mason
Accessible Internet
w3c@accessibleinter.net
http://www.accessibleinter.net/