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The recovery has begun.  The economy is starting to boom.  Well, at least the lobbying industry in Washington.  Reports my friend Tim Carney over at the Washington Examiner:

Early numbers suggest that the first quarter of 2009 has seen lobbying in the nation's capital spike by nearly 22 percent over last year, which would be the largest ever increase in lobbying activity - and a strong indication that President Barack Obama has helped usher in a Golden Era for K Street.

Between Jan. 1 and March 16 this year, the Senate Office of Public Records received 1,381 new lobbying registrations, which include new lobbying firms, new clients at existing firms, and businesses hiring their first lobbyists. This is the largest batch of new registrations since 1999, the first year these records were kept, and a 21.7 percent increase over last year.

If you subtract the lobbying accounts that have been terminated, you get a net gain in active lobbying accounts this year of 1,252, which represents a surge of 13.5 percent over last year's growth of 1,103 net lobbying accounts in the same period.

With lobbyists prospering, can the rest of the economy be far behind?