Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) was invited and then uninvited to an Atlanta fund-raiser for presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

The reason for the switch: Cleland is now a lobbyist.

"It's accurate," Cleland said Saturday, confirming reports on Politico.com and in The New York Times.

Cleland, a triple amputee and decorated Vietnam War veteran, was a U.S. senator for six years, until 2003, and he remains active in Democratic politics. Last July, Cleland became a lobbyist for Tissue Regeneration Technologies, a Cherokee County company that develops and makes medical devices for military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cleland was asked not to come to a July 7 Atlanta fund-raiser because Obama would be there. Obama has banned lobbyists from raising money for his presidential campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The invitation to Cleland came from a friend. But after checking the guest list against a lobbyist database, the Obama campaign asked Cleland not to attend.

"They're trying to be the new broom that sweeps cleaner in Washington, which we need," Cleland told the New York Times. "I don't feel dissed, put upon or disinvited."

"We have the utmost respect for Senator Cleland, and it was a very difficult decision," said Melanie Roussell, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign. "But we have a policy."