What's behind the GOP's enduring dominance of K Street?

Since President Obama's convincing re-election victory, the prevailing political narrative has been that Republicans are on the ropes, rethinking their policies on everything from gay marriage to immigration.

Somebody forgot to tell K Street.

That's the conclusion Politico came to after finding that Republicans currently "hold more than 30 of the 50 highest-profile, in-house lobbying jobs in town." Reporters Anna Palmer and Elizabeth Titus also broke down a few reasons why members of the GOP continue to land most of the prime lobbying jobs:

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No More Mister Nice Blog sees this as evidence that rumors of Republicans' demise are "greatly exaggerated," noting that "the folks who employ lots of lobbyists don't think they're at risk of losing clout as a result of hiring and retaining top people from this supposedly struggling, aimless, moribund party."

Frank Fahrenkopf, a Republican who has represented the casino industry as president of the American Gaming Association for the last 18 years, says that it's not about political affiliation, it's about connections:

This may not be a permanent state of affairs, though. Kate Ackley of Roll Call reports that "K Street shops, many in revenue decline for the past couple of years, can no longer afford the luxury of a high-priced former member," which often involve salaries of around $1 million for a former senator and $700,000 for a former member of the House.

Don't worry, politicians: The cable news networks could always use some more talking heads.