Indeed, many of Washington's high-priced tax lobbyists have clients on both sides of the fight.

Lawrence B. Lindsey, Mr. Bush's chief economic adviser, has also been pouring cold water over the tax lobbyists.

And once ubiquitous tax lobbyists were mostly forced to find new lines of work.

Perhaps the most daunting prospect is that with a major tax bill on the docket, the tax lobbyists will come out of hibernation and begin peddling their wares.

But tax lobbyists have little reason to breathe easier.

The Hill Newspaper called him "one of the most experience Democratic tax lobbyists and one "of the best lobbyists for hire in town.

Charls E. Walker, a tax lobbyist in Washington and former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, agrees.

A Washington lawyer and tax lobbyist, Allen Klein, agreed.

Kenneth J. Kies, tax lobbyist for Nabors, dismissed the Senate vote as window dressing.

(Yes, tax lobbyists no longer just mill in government lobbies; they sit down with state and federal legislators to help cut the cloth to suit their masters.)