From this morning's Earlybird:

• "This week, K Streeters are expected to cut checks in droves for the chance to mingle with about 50 senior House staffers who are headlining a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Individual attendees are expected to shell out $1,000, while political action committees need to come up with $2,500 to score a seat ... but lobbyists say it's worth the price tag to get a rare kind of access with high-level staffers."

• "A push to require bank-holding companies to hold better capital has sparked a lobbying drive because it would force the industry to raise as much as $1.3 trillion from its balance sheet if the changes were to be enacted, according to one estimate," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. "Banking groups are concerned an amendment attached to the Senate-passed financial regulatory revamp would force them to raise additional capital in the midst of a credit crunch."

• "Ten Washington lobbying firms have represented a whopping 130 different clients in the financial regulatory reform debate -- raking in millions of dollars as the bill heads for final passage," Politico reports.