ABSTRACT
Direct lobbying offers organized interests the clearest opportunity for presenting the substantive and political merits of their positions. Critics also say the committee is little more than a direct-mail fund-raising operation that hyped this issue o raise money for itself and its direct-mail consultants and to expand its valuable mailing lists, which it rents to other political organizations eager to tap the nation's senior citizens. Contemporary organized interests have many arrows in their quivers#8212; any well-established political strategies and tactics, refined over the years for applying their resources in an effort to shape congressional decisions. Although more complete discussions of these techniques may be found elsewhere, it is worthwhile here to note the principal ways in which groups approach the task of shaping outcomes on Capitol Hill— in part to see what is new and what is not.
