An Excerpt from FactCheck.org Article
6/20/2008
The lobbyist figures we give here could stand
some minor refinement. The totals might be reduced somewhat if the CRP [ used Obama's rather narrow definition of
"lobbyist." Obama makes a point of refusing money from those who are currently
registered to lobby at the federal level. The CRP has a broader definition,
counting money from anyone working at a lobbying firm, registered or not, state
or federal, and their families as well. By CRP's definition Obama himself
has taken in $161,927 from lobbyists.
On the other hand, CRP does not count registered lobbyists who work in-house for
corporations, industry groups and unions, but classifies them with their
industries. Adding those in-house lobbyists to the total could increase the
amounts somewhat. But adding donations from in-house lobbyists and subtracting
donations from those who don't meet Obama's strict definition would not be
likely to change the total by much, and certainly not by enough to justify
Obama's claim that McCain and the RNC are "fueled" by such donations.
Also, for what it's worth, the Democratic National Committee has historically
been far more reliant on PAC and lobbyist money than the RNC. In 2004, PACs
provided about 10 percent of the DNC's total
fundraising and only about 1 percent of the RNC's total, according to the CRP.
Obama, after he sewed up enough delegates to win the party's nomination, sent
word to the DNC to stop accepting PAC and lobbyist donations.
Article: http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/print_obamas_lame_claim_about_mccains_money.html
Lobbyist Data: http://opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?cycle=2008