One of Ralph Nader's rationales for his presidential campaign was that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. A look at where big business invested its campaign dollars shows that the CEOs who steer the world's largest corporations couldn't disagree more. Thanks to them, George Bush out-raised and outspent Al Gore by about 50 percent. Now, in the aftermath of the most expensive national election ever, the political players are calculating the return on their investment.

In terms of immediate profit, honors go to the corporations that own the nation's television stations. According to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, 65 percent of Americans relied on television for their news about the election. What's more, according to a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, no matter how much network television news people watched, they remained equally ignorant of how Gore and Bush stood on the issues.