From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

More charges of politics at the Bush Department of Justice.

Hello again, I'm on Allney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues. Americans care about most.

Alabama's former governor is doing seven years in a federal prison. Democrats in Congress are

investigating his prosecution and his conviction. Forty-four former state attorneys general,

including Republicans, say irregularities in the case, raise questions about basic fairness.

On to the point, Alabama is in an uproar over a case that could have national implications. As the Bush administration used

the power of prosecution to influence elections, are the Democrats misusing their power to conduct

investigations? On reporters' notebook later on, new video games for old people. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon-Aulney, back with To the Point. Alabama's former governor sits in a federal prison while Washington Democrats raise questions about political prosecutions. On To the Poit, we'll hear the latest bitter dispute about politics and the Bush Department of Justice. On reporter's notebook, baby boomers take note. Brain exercises may help fight Alzheimer's disease. First, this news update. Russia today announced testing of what it calls the father of all bombs. As President Putin dropped a political bombshell, he replaced Prime Minister Mikhail Friedrichov with a virtual unknown financial crime investigator Victor Zubkoff.

Fred Weir reports from Moscow for the Christian Science Monitor, and Fred, good to have you back

with us.

My pleasure.

Let's talk politics first.

How important is the prime minister if President Putin can replace him at will?

Well, of course, it's a one-man political system, and even more so in the seven years since Putin's been president.

He has really reinforced the autocratic nature of the system.

However, according to the Russian Constitution, prime minister is next in line.

So if anything happened to Putin, the prime minister would step into the president's

...