washington dc careers:lobbyist

legend has it (as popularized by Willard Hotel propaganda/marketing folks) that right around the time when the unionist were wining the civil war, Grant who was the Union army General use to smoke in the hotel lobby while visiting DC, since he was the leader of the winning side therefore a lot of people were conveniently found hanging around the lobby seeking favors from the leader, hence the term lobbyist, the job description of a lobbyist hasn't changed much since then, though it might be much more complicated now but then we are talking about the capital of the free world where free trade as preached by Adam Smith is on full swing, and as they say over here every thing is a marketable asset from the senator's robe to the senator himself, not to sound as if the senators take bribes, they do not, just that voting a certain way for causes that are dear to some corporation may well make the next campaign a well funded one. Anyways extending the earlier post 'Washington DC careers' Google 'lobbyist' and you will find the following traits desirable in a lobbyist:

1- should have the power to persuade
2- presentable personality
3- in most cases friendly demeanor (confrontational folks need not apply)
4- should have in depth knowledge of the cause they are pushing
5- should have the ability to cultivate a network of resourceful people