From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Business and labor's battle royal over the Employee Free Choice Act was joined last week and both sides insist they are David to the opposition's Goliath," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "But whether it is big business versus the middle class or big labor against scrappy entrepreneurs, each side says the fight has already cost millions -- and it's hard to know where all the money's gone."

• "Wal-Mart is ramping up its Washington activity to push for comprehensive health care reform, and the world's largest retailer says it is ready to use its economic muscle to get out in front and influence the discussion," Politico reports.

• "Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry, has doubled its lobbying team to press for a patent reform bill that would impose limits on patent lawsuits," The Hill reports. "The move comes three years after the maker of the BlackBerry paid about $612 million to settle a patent lawsuit that threatened to put the company out of business."

• "The PMA Group, the lobbying firm with close ties to key House Democrats that was raided by the FBI last fall, has deep financial ties with many of the firms that it was lobbying for," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Ethics experts say there is no prohibition on a lobby shop having a direct financial interest in its client firms, but the relationships underscore PMA's ability to bundle tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for favored lawmakers." The Washington Post also takes a look at the ties between PMA Group, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. and a Pennsylvania university research center.