Dem Lobbyists Step Up, Prepare to Cash In

Lobbyists, corporations banned from contributing to transition

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's transition team has set out what one official called "the strictest, most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition in history,” the Hill reports. Lobbyists, corporations and PACs will be barred from donating funds to the transition operation, and lobbyists on the team won’t be allowed to work on the same issues they once lobbied. Transition staffers who become lobbyists will be banned from lobbying the administration for a year. More»

Broderick Johnson is key Democratic insider

(NEWSER) - President Obama is building his reelection campaign on "channeling anti-Wall Street anger," but a top campaign staffer lobbied for the bank bailout that has both Occupiers and Tea Partiers fuming. Broderick Johnson and fellow lobbyists were paid some $450,000 working for the Financial Services Forum, a group of top banking CEOs, between 2007 and last year, Salon reports. But "Broderick is no longer a lobbyist—he deregistered in April," said an Obama rep. More»

Many bundlers 'indistinguishable' from traditional lobbyists, finds NYT

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s campaign has pledged not to take money from lobbyists—but some of its biggest fundraisers don’t look much different. Fifteen of the president’s powerful “bundlers,” who donate to the campaign and seek others’ donations, have raised some $5 million for Obama; while none are registered lobbyists, they work in the lobbying field, the New York Times reports. That doesn’t look good for a president who has attacked K Street as a source of political corruption. More»

Krugman: It's a 'disaster' for the country, and shows he'll surrender again

(NEWSER) - President Obama caved deeply in a debt deal that made the Republicans big winners, with both Andrew Leonard and Paul Krugman arguing that he "surrendered." Their take:

• “In the end, President Obama had to admit surrender,” writes Andrew Leonard in Salon , detailing “a smashing victory for the Tea Party and a crushing defeat for Democrats.” In Obama’s defense, he “had to choose between an awful deal or an outright catastrophe.” But he made a mistake in trying to sell it as a compromise. "The president said it was not 'the deal I would have preferred.' He should have said it's a bad deal that does not address the pressing needs of the nation," but one that he had no choice but to sign.

But Republican backers are more likely to vote

(NEWSER) - It's good news/bad news time, Democrats. Bad news: The public doesn’t much like you. In fact, a whopping 60% disapprove of the job you’re doing in the latest AP poll. Good news: They dislike Republicans even more; 68% disapprove of them, and Sarah Palin and George W. Bush are viewed significantly more negatively than President Obama. But more bad news: The people who dislike Democrats are more likely to actually vote. More»