From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), caught up in the scandal surrounding a now defunct lobbying firm, shelled out $100,000 this summer for 'legal representation,' according to his latest campaign-disclosure report," Politico reports. "Visclosky's campaign report for the July 1-Sept. 30 period, released on Thursday, showed two $50,000 payments to the firm Steptoe & Johnson, made in July and August, with no checks cut to the firm in September."

• "At a meeting last April with corporate lobbyists, aides to President Barack Obama and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) helped set in motion a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, primarily financed by industry groups, that has played a key role in bolstering public support for health care reform," Politico also reports. "The role Baucus's chief of staff, Jon Selib, and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina played in launching the groups was part of a successful effort by Democrats to enlist traditional enemies of health care reform to their side."

• "Lobbyists have met with officials at the Office of Management and Budget to discuss and in some cases moderate regulations regarding a greenhouse gas registry, the so-called Buy American purchasing requirement and an ethanol production mandate. OMB has final say on how proposed federal rules are ultimately written," The Hill reports. "Representatives for the oil-and-gas industry flocked to a half-dozen meetings held by OMB starting in August this year to discuss a controversial rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions."

• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street firms have the big bucks and the hired-gun lobbyists, but they've got nothing on local banks and credit unions in the raging battle over financial reform," Politico reports. "Thanks to an effective, parochial lobbying campaign, credit unions and community banks have won a major exemption in their effort to escape scrutiny by Democrats' proposed consumer financial protection agency."