Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's speech announcing his running mate Joe Biden singled out the Delaware senator's son who is headed for Iraq. Obama didn't mention the profession of Biden's other son, who lobbied for two drug companies and five universities.

Hunter Biden, 38, described as a lawyer in the biography of his father distributed yesterday by the Obama campaign, lobbied for clients that paid his firm at least $380,000 in the first six months of this year, federal records show.

Both Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain have said lobbyists may not work on their campaigns. McCain recently called lobbyists ``birds of prey,'' and Obama has refused to accept their contributions. In his speech yesterday in Springfield, Illinois, Obama said he's running in part to repair ``a government that has fallen prey to special interests.''

Hunter Biden's work for Oldaker, Biden & Belair on behalf of biotech clients Achaogen, Inc., of South San Francisco and Pulmatrix, Inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts, illustrates the quandary posed when legislators have lobbyists within the family.

``It's always something to watch out for when you have a high-ranking member of Congress or an important senator whose child goes into the influence business,'' said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington nonprofit that advocates transparency.

Influential Connection

``It's not necessarily that the father's going to do favors for the child's clients, but that every other member knows who his father is and what the connection is and that can carry a lot of influence as well,'' Allison said in an interview.

Elizabeth Alexander, a spokeswoman for Biden's Senate office, said the senator follows ethics rules.

``Hunter Biden does not lobby and has not lobbied Senator Biden's office,'' Alexander said in an e-mail. ``Our rules are dictated by the Senate ethics bill, and we follow it by the letter.'' Alexander said she knew of no favors done for Hunter Biden's clients.

Hunter Biden couldn't be reached yesterday through Alexander and did not return a message left on his office voicemail. His home phone in Washington is unlisted.

The senator's Web site describes Hunter Biden as a lawyer.

The Obama-Biden campaign had no comment.

Hunter Biden also sits on the board of Amtrak, the passenger railroad whose federal subsidies McCain has often criticized. Joe Biden rides home to Wilmington on Amtrak trains every night after work in the Senate.

Anthrax Contract

Before Hunter Biden was listed in disclosures as working on the Achaogen account, the company announced in October 2006 that it had received a $24.7 million Pentagon contract to work on anthrax-threat mitigation, according to a press release on the company's Web site.

Achaogen paid Biden's firm $20,000 in the final quarter of 2006, according to filings.

By coincidence, the senator's office in Wilmington had an anthrax scare in October 2006 when an aide opened a letter that had a mysterious powder in it. Authorities later determined it wasn't anthrax.

Hunter Biden's lobbying clients also include the University of Scranton and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, which paid Biden's firm $80,000 to lobby the House and Senate on matters including defense appropriations. Another of his clients was Regis University in Denver, which paid the firm $80,000 for the same kind of work in the same period.

To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy J. Burger in Washington at tburger2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 24, 2008 01:11 EDT