The recession skipped K Street. The firms along Washington's traditional lobbyists' row have continued

to expand despite the nation's economic woes. In fact, because of them sweeping legislative fights over

health care, financial reform, energy, climate change and defense have spurred companies to spend to

defend their turf. "It's the kind of expansion that any industry would have envied during that very dark

period," says Dave Levinthal, editor of OpenSecrets.org a blog of the Center for Responsive Politics, a

nonpartisan group that tracks lobbying.