Only a few years ago, Democrats feared being frozen out of Washington’s lucrative lobby business. Now, though, with the party controlling the executive and legislative branches, it is Democrats who are being snapped up right and left by K Street firms.

Bad times for newspapers can be good times for newspaper lobbyists.

Major publishers, which often cover K Street as a hotbed of corruption, spend thousands each year to advance and protect their own interests.

Yet one issue that has fueled the Washington media lobby for years may soon disappear. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin has drafted a plan that would abolish rules forbidding companies from owning both a newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same city.