Recently, the Pentagon released the list of its top 10 contractors for 2010, all which spent significant amounts of money lobbying Congress and contributing large sums to federal campaigns last year and in 2009.

Boeing—while only the second biggest contractor in terms of money received—spent the most money lobbying Congress between 2009 and 2010 at almost $35 million, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer.

Northrop Grumman was second, spending $30 million.

The biggest contractor, Lockheed Martin, came in third for those same years spending $26 million lobbying.

Also noteworthy is the number of misconduct cases filed against each contractor, which usually results in fines to be paid by the contractor. All of the top ten names listed except OshKosh, as reported by the Project on Government Oversight, have had multiple cases filed against them with at least some violations incurred while working as contractors for the Department of Defense.

For instance, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has five cases of misconduct as a Defense contractor, but has 11 cases total on record dating back to 1995, also according to data made available by Influence Explorer. For the five cases where SAIC was a Defense contractor, the company paid out $6.6 million.

A roundup of what we're noticing in the Reporting Group as we dig into government data and disclosures:

Milestone: Outside spending in mid-term elections reaches $200 million, my colleague Anupama Narayanswamy reports.

Fat Tuesday: Again! The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee just reported that it spent a little more than $5 million on Tuesday, Oct. 12, its biggest day of spending so far. That day was also the National Republican Senatorial Committee's () biggest day of spending this cycle ($1.8 million). The DSCC, which has spent more than $20 million so far, ran ads against Republican candidates, including Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. The NRSCC has spent $6.7 million so far.

SupporK Murkowski: Ryan Sibley reports that nine Alaskan-based federal contractors, one of which acknowledged her ability to bring home federal dollars to the 49th state, are backing Sen. Lisa Murkowski through a Super PAC called Alaskans Standing Together. Murkowski lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller.

Be sure to check out our Follow the Unlimited Money tool--updated hourly!--to get all the latest info on outside groups.

From SunlightCAM: Club for Growth Action Fund is running and ad attacking Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. "After 18 months in Washington, Bennet acts like he's been there forever. He voted for government health care, to bail out car companies, how does that help Colorado?"

Wind power: Deepwater Wind, which builds offshore wind farms, has hired Mayforth Group LLC to lobby for it on alternative energy issues. The company has a federal contract.

Second look: GAO reports that Pentagon needs to reassess the joint cruise missile being developed by Lockheed Martin.

Today's Politiwidget:

Rep. Alan Grayson is taking advantage of a legislative misfire by overzealous lawmakers. And he's asking anyone out there to help him.

Last week, the House approved a motion to recommit to a student loan bill that banned funding to the community organization ACORN after employees of the group were videotaped offering advice to two people posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to file fraudulent tax forms. Unfortunately for those seeking to target ACORN, there is no way to single out one organization from receiving federal funds. Therefore the bill drafters banned any organization under investigation for or having been found guilty of committing contracting fraud from receiving federal funds. (The bill also bans federal funds for any organization that violates federal or state election, campaign finance or lobbying disclosure laws.) While this may have seemed like a smart idea, it winds up applying to a large number of defense contractors and others.

If this bill were actually to take effect, the United States of America would probably have a serious aging problem with our Air Force planes fleet. According to the Project on Government Oversight's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database, Lockheed Martin has eleven fraud instances and Northrup Grumman has nine. Northrup Grumman has settled one False Claims Act for more money, $325 million, than ACORN has received since 1994, $54 million.

Rep. Grayson has posted a request to help him identify contractor fraud to be placed in the legislative history of the bill when courts review the legislation, which, if this language remains intact, they will. Grayson posted a Google Spreadsheet for anyone to add instances of contractor fraud to. All you need is a reputable source.

Of course, the aforementioned Federal Contract Misconduct Database is a great place to start.