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Every legislative session, hundreds of lobbyists descend upon the statehouses in Bismarck and St. Paul, trying to achieve their legislative agendas.

Some are hired guns contracted by various groups to work on a variety of issues, while others are in-house lobbyists employed by the groups they represent. In North Dakota and Minnesota, a handful of groups stand out because of the number of lobbyists they have.

With 51 registered lobbyists, Xcel Energy has the most in Minnesota. In North Dakota, the state Veterans Coordinating Council tops the lists with 12. The second-place spot in both states is held by teachers unions, Education Minnesota (27) and North Dakota United (11).

But how many lobbyists a group has and how much it spends on lobbying doesn't always translate into legislative success, said Joel Carlson, a longtime Minnesota lobbyist who was a state representative for Moorhead in the 1980s.

"The quality or content of your ideas still matter," he said.

There are close to 500 registered lobbyists in North Dakota, and Minnesota has over 1,300. With so many voices clamoring for the attention of a far smaller number of lawmakers, how do lobbyists pierce this wall of noise?

The truth, Carlson said, is that there aren't over 1,300 lobbyists crowding the halls of the Minnesota Capitol every day of a legislative session.

"But there is a lot of clutter out there and trying to break through that is part of our job," he said. "I try to get my clients focused on issues that can actually pass."

Carlson also noted that the number of lobbyists for a group like Xcel is inflated by the fact that anyone working to influence decisions made by the state Public Utilities Commission must register as a lobbyist. Similarly in North Dakota, the state Veterans Coordinating Council has many of its board members registered to lobby lawmakers, but they aren't full-time lobbyists.

A better gauge of lobbying firepower may be the amount of money spent on lobbying. North Dakota does not tally these dollar figures, and few lobbyists even report expenses to the state, as only purchases of more than $60 must be disclosed.

Minnesota, however, does track lobbying costs. The top three spenders in 2015 were the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce ($2.2 million), Minnesota Business Partnership ($1.2 million) and Education Minnesota ($980,000), according to state records. Some of this money goes to paying lobbyists, and some goes to wining and dining lawmakers.

North Dakota Rep. Joshua Boschee, D-Fargo, said it's not unusual for lobbyists to buy dinner for legislators, sometimes entire committees, or to host receptions for them in an effort to build relationships and advocate for certain interests. "While they're not necessarily saying they're advocating for something, they're certainly advocating for something," he said.

In North Dakota where legislators don't have staff members, Boschee said, legislators depend on lobbyists to help them quickly grasp complex issues. North Dakota House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, agreed.

"It's our responsibility to sort out the wheat from the chaff - decide what's good information, what's not," Rep. Carlson said.

The Minnesota and North Dakota legislatures are both currently in session. Minnesota's meets every year, while North Dakota's convenes every other. In off years, North Dakota lobbyists stay busy keeping tabs on interim committees discussing legislation and on administrative agencies considering rule changes, said Bismarck lobbyist Levi Andrist.

In his seven years as a lobbyist, Andrist said he's only written a handful of bills but has drafted quite a few amendments to bills, changes that his clients were seeking. He said it's common for model legislation from national groups like the National Conference of State Legislatures to end up in the North Dakota Capitol.

The Minnesota lobbyist, Joel Carlson, who has experience as a legislative researcher, said he's drafted a great deal of legislation. Ultimately though, the final versions of bills are prepared by the Minnesota revisor's office or the North Dakota legislative council.