I am going to spill over to the film (as many of us in the film thread reference the novel)here and go to a line in GFII in Cuba. Hyman Roth understood the imnportance of political connections as well as the Corleone family. He "owned" a general counsel to an importand Senate Committee which investigated organized crime, and during their time in Havana, he speculated to Michael that with the foothold they had with a friendly government in Havana, they could raise enough cash to get one of their people elected president of the United States.