Polluting the body politic

Barack Obama - and with a slightly less straight face, John McCain - both pledged some time ago to reduce the presence of lobbyists in American politics.

That hasn't stopped the RIAA spending record company shareholder's cash turning up at Denver:

Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the RIAA, said RIAA president Cary Sherman and others from the recording industry are in Denver "to be relevant to the political process. We'll be in Minnesota next week."

Mmm. Yes, since you ask, I did throw up a little in my mouth at that "relevant to the political process" - why should a business lobby group feel they need to be connected to the political process at all? Should they not just wait for democracy to run its course and then see if they're relevant any more?