To the Point

McCain-Feingold Debate Begins

This week the Senate takes up campaign finance reform for the first time since 1993. Republican John McCain and Democrat Russ Feingold are leading the fight to ban the unregulated soft money that they say poisons American politics. Surprisingly, big business and labor call the cure worse than the disease. Others believe that the reforms won't really change things. We examine the stakes in the Senate's marathon debate and get some new ideas on reform, with legal experts, representatives from business and labor, former senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley. (Matt Miller guest hosts.) Newsmaker: Sharon Comes to Washington - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in Washington to seek President Bush's endorsement that peace talks remain on hold pending a cessation of Mid East violence. Henry Siegman, of the Council on Foreign Relations, assesses the peculiar chemistry of US-Israeli-Palestinian relations and the potential for renewed peace talks. Reporter's Notebook: DNA and American Obsession With Ancestry - After gardening, genealogy is the most popular hobby in America. When The New Yorker's John Seabrook went on a search for his past, he unearthed some futuristic ethical dilemmas. He found that a successful - and complete -- search requires far more than the biological relationship one identified by DNA.