To the Point

Big Business Backs Bush

Corporations and their lobbyists spent more money than ever this year to re-elect the President and strengthen Republicans in Congress. Faced with new restrictions on campaign contributions, they also found a new way to spend the money they used to give directly to candidates. Now, they want to collect on their investment. Tax cuts, tort reform and reduced environmental regulations are just part of their agenda. Campaign finance laws failed to take the money out of politics, but they did alter the strategies of big business? What does that mean for organized labor? We get several perspectives from journalists covering money, trade and politics, and a staffer from the Reagan Labor Department. Making News: Sources Say Gonzales to Succeed Attorney General Ashcroft John Ashcroft resigned yesterday as Attorney General of the United States. Today, some -unnamed sources- are saying that he-ll be replaced by a White House counsel who might be as controversial as Ashcroft himself. Eric Lichtblau, who reports on the Justice Department for the New York Times, has more on Alberto Gonzales, who could become the first Latino Attorney General. Reporter-s Notebook: Arnold in Japan Action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is so popular in Japan that a high official once let him into the country without a passport. A regular fixture in Japanese TV commercials, this week Schwarzenegger is visiting Japan as Governor of California, to promote trade and tourism. Anthropologist Louise Krasniewicz, co-author of Why Arnold Matters, talks looks at the man known affectionately as "Shuwa-chan."