It is unclear whether Democrats in Congress are willing to corral support for new lobbying rules that President Obama proposed in his State of the Union speech, Roll Call reports.

"I want to see the details," Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the newspaper. "A lot of lobbyists are very helpful in fighting for their folks and a lot of lobbyists work very, very hard."

In his annual speech to Congress, Cabinet members and the American public, Obama said he wants to require lobbyists to reveal every contact they make with the White House or Congress on behalf of clients.

"It's time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office," Obama said, referring to last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which rolled back longstanding restrictions on corporate and association spending in federal elections. "With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections. I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."

Noting that corporations are wary of having their brands associated with federal campaigns, several political activity experts -- including Public Affairs Council President Doug Pinkham -- have predicted the ruling will not lead to a flood of corporate spending on such campaigns, but could convince companies to put money into tax-exempt organizations that will support or oppose candidates.

After hearing Obama's proposal, some Democrats told Roll Call they don't expect to support the plan. They included Sen. Bob Nelson, the Nebraska Democrat who is a key vote on the committee with authority over such a proposal and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leaders who noted that Congress already addressed the most problematic of lobbying loopholes in 2007's Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, or HLOGA for short.  

"I think it's important to recognize the changes that have taken place in terms of disclosure and bundling by lobbyists that have already happened," DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen told Roll Call. "What we've focused on is 2transparency and making sure all of that is overly reported."