Chamber of Commerce vows to
punish anti-business candidates

The group indicates it will spend in excess of the approximately
$60 million it put out in the last presidential cycle.

WASHINGTON -- Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of
the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of
dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business.



"We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so
strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed,"
chamber President Tom Donohue said.

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Reacting to what it sees as a potentially hostile political climate, Donohue
said, the chamber will seek to punish candidates who target business
interests with their rhetoric or policy proposals, including congressional
and state-level candidates.

Although Donohue shied away from precise figures, he indicated that his
organization would spend in excess of the approximately $60 million it
spent in the last presidential cycle. That approaches the spending levels
planned by the largest labor unions.

The chamber president is scheduled to announce the broad outlines of the
organization's plans for the 2008 election and beyond at a news conference
here today. Donohue also plans to fire a rhetorical warning shot across the
bow of candidates considered unfriendly to business.

"I'm concerned about anti-corporate and populist rhetoric from
candidates for the presidency, members of Congress and the media,"
he said. "It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is
in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits -- and who it
is that eats them."

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