The Baucus bill was “authored” by a former WellPoint VP.  Tom Carper admits that PhRMA paid good money for advertising in support of the $80 billion deal they cut with the White House, so the Senate must honor it.  And now the overweening concern of Pat Roberts is for the rights of lobbyists.

So, Democratic members of Congress? Think this one is going down the memory hole? Think again!

Members of Congress, got a tip you’d like to share on a fellow member who has publicly referred to you in less than flattering terms? Former (or present) staffers looking to unburden your conscience? You can leave information on our tip line:

We started this whip count effort on June 23 because it became clear that in the course of making their deals with stakeholders, the Baucus Caucus (who were negotiating on behalf of the White House, with the participation of the White House) had very likely already dealt the public plan away. 

When you have 118 lobbyists involved in your campaign, I guess you need someone full-time to tend to the needs of corporate CEOs. So not surprisingly, in a piece about how another lobbyist, Steve Schmidt, is taking over the day-to-day functions of his campaign, one can find this little morsel about his current head honcho’s new gig:

[Rick] Davis will focus more on big-picture issues such as general strategy, helping to plan

That would be $496 million since 1998. So close to that $500 million goal! And this was only from lobbying for domestic clients. Think about all the additional loot they brought in from perpertrators of genocide abroad (Charlie Black alone probably made a cool $50 mil from foreign dictators).

Here are the highlights, via Campaign Money Watch:One hundred and eighteen lobbyists aiding McCain’s campaign have received $496 million in lobbying contracts from

The McCain-Bush Clan got their scalp:

James Johnson said he is leaving Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential search committee after the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that he may have received preferential mortgage terms from a financial institution, according to Bloomberg.

Now we can all hold our collective breath while waiting for the McCain Campaign to apply the same standards to Charlie Black, Rick Davis, Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Randy

Not that they’ll do anything about it, most likely.

It’s good to be the “straight-talker”:

A group that supports public financing of campaigns filed a federal complaint against John McCain’s presidential campaign Monday, calling for an investigation into two financial transactions involving two top McCain aides.

The Federal Election Commission complaint by Campaign Money Watch, a group that has received financing from Democratic leaning donors, questions payments from former finance chair Tom Loeffler to

One word for how things must feel in Charlie Black’s office at McCain HQ: Awkward.

I just obtained this statement:”The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard

A cheery guy, that Phil Gramm. According to Newsweek, he brought his zest for life into his work as a banking industry lobbyist, and no, we’re not just talking about the subprime mess and tax evasion he and UBS pioneered. From Newsweek, via Progress Ohio: McCain’s campaign is already distancing itself from some of Gramm’s other work for UBS.

John McCain is going to keep many investigative journalists very busy this political season.