21.   Gorton said the two senators would now push the Senate rules committee to hold hearings.

22.   He was Walter Mondale, the other senator.

23.   However, the two senators agreed to back whichever version emerges from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

24.   In an impromptu effort to publicize the thaw, the two senators even walked around together at the dinner meeting greeting guests.

25.   In many states, where the two senators are from different parties, they divide the prerogative of choosing federal district court judges.

26.   In his letter to Murray, Gorton argued that the two senators should jointly appoint a search committee to interview candidates for vacancies on the federal bench.

27.   In the weeks before the two senators released the letter, the administration urged Moynihan to adopt a measured approach and warn against precipitate action on the issue.

28.   Instead, the two senators are proposing new legislation that would bar suspected drug traffickers from trading with the United States.

29.   James Manley, a spokesman for Kennedy, said the two senators would offer their proposal as an amendment on the Senate floor.

30.   McCain was the least culpable of the five senators.