Hordes of Hired Guns Earned About $19 Million Per Day

As Lobbying Soared to Nearly $1 Billion in First Quarter

Remember how Obama said he was going to end all this?

Hordes of hired K Street guns are in high demand as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats seek to implement grand legislative plans.

And a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying reports recently filed with the Senate Office of Public Records indicates companies, trade associations, unions and other groups spent nearly $1 billion on lobbying during the first three months of 2010. That puts the current year on an early pace toward exceeding the record amount of money -- about $3.47 billion -- spent last year on federal lobbying efforts.