Birds of a Feather

"The rise of Tony Feather from congressional intern to successful lobbyist is a story of loyalty, of good deeds rewarded -- and of Republicans taking care of their own," the Washington Post writes. Feather is a partner at FLS-DCI, which provides direct-mail, telephone and grassroots lobbying for political parties, corporations, trade associations and others, and the up and coming DCI Group, a Washington lobbying shop with "a long list of clients paying $20,000 to $200,000 every six months." Feather is a registered lobbyist for Intel, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and Qualcomm. Feather counts as friends White House advisor Karl Rove, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, and Joe Allbaugh, who heads New Bridge Strategies, a lobby firm focusing on Iraq reconstruction contracts. "In his role as a national political strategist, Feather has been on the cutting edge of a major shift in GOP tactics, moving away from placing the overwhelming emphasis on television, and shifting toward voter mobilization, local organization development -- the political terrain known as 'the ground war,' which is fast becoming the central thrust of the Republican Party and the Bush 2004 campaign," the Post writes.