You Scratch My Back...

By CBS News Correspondent Bob Schieffer

(CBS)  It's a China trade bill, but it has to do with a lot more than trade. And at times like this, you find out what every one in Washington really wants.

Like Ohio Congressman Tom Sawyer, who said a presidential visit to his district might help him decide how to vote on the trade bill. No problem. The president was there in a jiffy and got Sawyer's support.

Before he commits, Dallas Congressman Martin Frost wants White House help to keep this big defense plant open in his district.

Alabama Congressman Bud Cramer went to the White House hoping his hometown will get a federal weather station out of all this.

Diplomatic Dispatch

The repercussions of Congress' upcoming vote on whether or not to normalize trade relations with China will extend deep and wide.

Click here for CBS News State Department Reporter Charles Wolfson's Diplomatic Dispatch.

El Paso, Tex. Congressman Sylvestre Reyes withheld support until the president promised to push the bureauracy to decide whether an oil pipeline can be used to pump cheap gasoline to El Paso.

And then there's the tiny California town of American Canyon. Because its zip code is the same as a neighboring town, residents are wrongly billed for utilities. Their congressman, Mike Thompson, has tried for years to change it.

"Believe me, I've injected the zip code in every conversation with anybody I've ever talked to since the day I got to Washington, D.C.," he said.

But after being called to the White House to talk about China, presto! The postmaster called, American Canyon got a new zip code, and Congressman Thompson came out for the trade bill.

It's no one way street. After John Cardinal O'Connor's funeral in New York, the president graciously gave the New York congressional delegation a ride back to Washington. But before Air Force One touched down, they got an airborne sales pitch on - what else? - China.

There's nothing illegal here. It's just a reminder that in Washington, everything - everything - is connected to something. And by the way, it's working. It looks like the trade bill will pass.