Advocacy and lobbying stories from this week's National Journal: (subscription)

"An End Run Around Earmarks: " The enduring culture of pork-barrel spending means that appropriations lobbying is still a lucrative business for K Street even as budget constraints and public scrutiny of earmarks have grown. But that could change if more of those seeking earmarks listen to Chris Pedigo. He is the founder and president of Citizen Lobbyist, a firm that shows clients how to lobby for earmarks themselves instead of relying on high-priced K Street practitioners.  

"Alternative Business Groups Proliferate:" For decades, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other 800-pound-gorilla trade groups have been the dominant voices of business in Washington. Recently, a handful of upstart progressive business organizations, including Business Forward, have been trying to provide a counterbalance.

 "Inside Washington:" What Ever Happened To ... Tony Coelho? It's been nearly a decade since Coelho resigned as chairman of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign and was hospitalized for exhaustion. But the peripatetic pol, 67, has hardly slowed down.

 "People:" Although Steven Duffield named his firm Endgame Strategies, it represents a new beginning. The former chief counsel and policy director to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl of Arizona just launched his own one-man shop.; Jimmy Williams, a onetime aide to then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is heading to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as a senior managing director; Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications has added three people to its federal and international government-relations team -- Graham Shalgian, Shawn Sullivan and Patrick Bench.