Earlier this year, some lobbyists who do alot of fundraising had told me it was harder to round up campaign donations from fellow lobbyists because many were worried about how the recession might impact their jobs. Others said they had "campaign fatigue" from the presidential election and weren't going to give money for awhile.

Whatever the reason, donations have fallen from the lobbying community this year. Numbers published in a report by the Center for Responsive Politics,showed that donations have dropped by 27 percent between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2009, according to its analysis of lobbying reports. During that same time period, the number of unique donors to members of Congress from across all industries rose by 1 percent.

Click here to see the report.