Whenever there's a transition of political power from one party to another, there's a whole new line of hungry mouths in the lobbying community waiting to feed at the public trough. If Americans are going to get control of federal spending - real control, and real discussion of expectations - it is at a time like this, during a transition and before the damage begins in earnest.
This seems to me to be a natural time for bloggers to come to the fore and report on lobbying efforts in an effort to control spending. Since Democrats are likely to control the Congress, and a Republican controls the White House, it also seems like something that conservative and liberal bloggers could agree to do in a reporting format. This isn't about reporting what is actually shows up in legislation, since that's usually too late - the deal has been made. It's about a blogging consideration of lobbyists, in general and in specific, at the federal level. If there were a process where bloggers could volunteer to cover lobbying firms - like what we do when we choose to cover a specific electoral race - perhaps bloggers could do a part in controlling lobbying. When you take a look at the dollars reported in lobbying, you realize that shedding any light on the process can make a difference. It's a staggering amount.