Twist?

Is this the turning point?

Corporate America is already thinking beyond Election Day, increasing its share of last-minute donations to Democratic candidates and quietly devising strategies for how to work with Democrats if they win control of Congress.

The shift in political giving, for the first 18 days of October, has not been this pronounced in the final stages of a campaign since 1994, when Republicans swept control of the House for the first time in four decades.

Smart money making moves?

So this pleases me, because I don't want the GOP the deepest pockets. Better if it comes from small individual donors, but every corporate dollar that goes to the Dems is one that Karl Rove didn't get.

The big question is if, should they win, the Dems can handle it, or will they allow the lobbyists to write their legislation just the way the GOP Congress flagrantly operates, or will they have the people's back enough to put up a firewall against corporate greed running the country.

It starts getting eerie:

Lobbyists, some of whom had fallen out of the habit of attending Democratic events, are even talking about making their way to the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail, Colo., where Representative Nancy Pelosi of California is holding a Speaker’s Club ski getaway on Jan. 3. It is an annual affair, but the gathering's title could be especially apt for Ms. Pelosi, the House minority leader, who will be on hand to accept $15,000 checks, and could, if everything breaks her way, become the first woman to be House speaker.

"Attendance will be high," said Steve Elmendorf, a former Democratic Congressional aide who has a long list of business lobbying clients. "All Democratic events will see a big increase next year, no question."

Hey, I want these folks to come listen to Nancy (rather than her counterpart, Dennis Hastert) and hope in a few weeks she can be called "Speaker", as long as this isn't just the intro to a whole new swing of corruption, bad stories about 2006 Dem heroes making the papers in 2012.

For the first nine months of the year, for example, Pfizer’s political action committee had given 67 percent of contributions to Republican candidates. But October ushered in a sudden change of fortune, according to disclosure reports, and Democrats received 59 percent of the Pfizer contributions.

Can the Dems take Pfizer's contributions and still fix Medicare? Will they still work to allow group medical plans to purchase drugs imported from Canada?

Republicans still received 57 percent of contributions, compared with 43 percent for Democrats, but it was the first double-digit October switch since 1994. "A lot will hold their powder for now," said Brian Wolff, deputy executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "But after the election, we will have a lot of new friends."

Cool, I'm looking forward to that happening.

And if it does, let's keep an eye on those new friends.