Helping to Ensure the Rights of Lobbyists

You remember lobbyists, don't you - they made the news quite a bit back in 2005-2006 for being just a little to open about their ownership of various Congressional figures. Well after the 2006 election, many of them slinked back into their offices, working quietly and trying to stay out of that messy public radar. Fortunately, the folks over at Public Citizen haven't been sleeping on the job. At "White House for Sale" they have been charting just how many lobbyists have been signing up to work with the various candidates.

Of course, maybe being a lobbyist isn't the job it used to be - guess which dynamic Presidential 2008 contender has more registered lobbyists than any other. None other than John McCain with 32. Hillary comes in a distant second at 18, followed by Mitt with 13, Rudy with 12, Obama with 7, Thompson with 6 and Bill Richardson at 3.

And amazingly enough, the number of registered lobbyists raising money for the 2008 candidates is almost as high as it was during the 2004 campaign. Most of the ones who are going to get on board haven't jumped on yet. According to the site, "George Bush, John Kerry and Howard Dean, the three 2004 candidates who released lists of bundlers, reported fundraising activity by 136 federal lobbyists. Fewer than 30 percent (28.7 percent) of those lobbyists have yet surfaced on the 2008 candidates’ fundraisers’ lists." Waiting to see what shakes out, perhaps? Didn't they get the Hillary will win memo?

I'll check back from time to time with more info on who is buying whom in the race for the White House.