Gravano quickly acquired tremendous clout in the construction and trucking industries.

"This is more about them acquiring economic clout, and perhaps refusing to pay off the local authorities, than about any religious beliefs," Ms. Hooper said.

They have acquired considerable political clout in Congress and have used it to plead their case.

Thanks to the inevitable concentration of the industry into a few large firms, owners and managers acquire enormous political clout.

During his official career in BioExploration, he had failed to achieve his goal, but he had failed magnificently enough to acquire clout.

The goal seems to be to prevent any from acquiring clout to rival the Communist Party.

Over time, Sarney and his family acquired enormous clout over Maranhão's public life, and he is today regarded as the foremost of Brazil's oligarchs.

Do you think the members of Hamas will desist in calling for the destruction of Israel now that they have acquired political clout?

And black trade unions had acquired political clout.

The Brazilian Armed Forces acquired great political clout after the Paraguayan War.