1.   Before the Senate left for vacation, chairman Larry Pressler of the Senate Commerce Committee put together a bipartisan compromise that seemed to break the logjam.

2.   Bipartisan compromise may be difficult to come by in the new political climate next year.

3.   A Democratic bill to implement wholesale price caps failed to reach a bipartisan compromise to move it out of a House committee last week.

4.   A different bipartisan compromise is still possible, said John Czwartacki, spokesman for the Republican Conference, which includes all House Republicans.

5.   But as Mitchell showed during his tenure in the US Senate, where he was considered a master of the bipartisan compromise, he is an eminently patient man.

6.   But most governors would prefer a bipartisan compromise.

7.   But over the years Congress has been able to forge bipartisan compromises with broad nationwide support.

8.   Democratic leaders said they were not sure whether the new House bill would lead to a bipartisan compromise.

9.   Feinstein sees the change as a chance for Democrats to prove their skill at crafting bipartisan compromises.

10.   For starters, his positions themselves hold less hope for bipartisan compromise than his words, which may be fig leaves covering very conservative ideological positions.