Thompson and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has a more modest hard-money increase proposal, went behind closed doors with McCain and Feingold and others on the campaign finance reform team -- including Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. -- and tried to work out a compromise.

In the LBJ Room on the second floor of the Capitol, they all hashed it out, along with Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Don Nickles, R-Okla., Harry Reid, D-Nev., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and staffers representing Majority Leader Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Minority Leader Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, showed up a bit late.

McCain started the meeting, saying he hoped they could come up with an agreement. Feingold spoke, then Feinstein. The opinions at the table varied wildly -- Reid said he didn't want any hard-money increase, while Nickles made it clear that he thought the hard-money limits should be raised significantly, at least to the level they would now be had they been indexed to inflation when they were first passed post-Watergate.

"After the initial posturing, there was a free debate," says a McCain-Feingold senior staffer, "and the eating of sandwiches."

Eventually the group started to work on splitting the difference. "Let's be honest and divide it between the Thompson and Feinstein positions," Nickles said.

The compromise went along with Feinstein on some issues, like raising the individual contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,000 and keeping the PAC contribution limit at $5,000.

But Thompson, Nickles and Hagel made it clear that they needed the Democrats to give on some issues, too. The Republicans pushed hard for increasing the aggregate maximum an individual can contribute in a given year. A proposal was made. The Democrats at the table separated and soon returned with a counteroffer, which the Republicans still weren't happy with.

The Democrats left, except for Feinstein, who stayed on to haggle with Thompson. They went back and forth on the cluster of outstanding issues. After reaching a deal she could live with, Feinstein left to get the OK from the Democratic leadership. She took a while getting back, but she came back with the leadership's approval.

"We got a deal," Thompson said.

Thompson's a charmer, but he's not known as being the hardest worker in the Senate -- except when he wants to be. Here he clearly wanted to be.

"We went at it for two hours," Thompson said.

According to the McCain-Feingold senior staffer, what was so remarkable about the meeting was not only the air of compromise but the fact that the senators themselves, rather than their staffs, were doing so much of the work and were so conversant with the issues.

"For 99 percent of the meetings we have to get issues out of a committee; most of the time you're lucky if you get two or three senators showing up at the meeting," the staffer said. "And even then, staffers are feeding them notes, conducting the meetings sometimes. This time, there were 11 senators at a table, arguing, debating, compromising. And most of what the staff was doing was bringing them sandwiches."

In the end, Feinstein and the Republicans each got some of what they wanted. The aggregate limit an individual can give was raised from $25,000 to $37,500 per calendar year -- as opposed to Feinstein's proposal of $30K. The compromise also doubled the amount a national party could give to a candidate, from $17,500 to $35,000.

The matter went to the Senate floor, where it passed 84-16. The only naysayers were a hodgepodge of Democrats -- including some philosophically opposed to any hard-money increases at all, like Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn. There were a host of others -- like Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. -- hypocrites who privately oppose a soft-money ban, since they feel it will disproportionately hurt Democrats, but publicly tell their constituents that they support it.

There were some rumblings from Daschle's office that two matters were indexed to inflation without consultation with the minority leader. Thompson and Feinstein came to the Senate Radio and TV Gallery before the vote was over, where Feinstein acknowledged that things had been moving so quickly she hadn't had time to run the changes by Daschle, though, she said, she had checked with the assistant minority leader, Sen. Reid, who said, "Go do it."

More important, Feinstein said, "I think McCain-Feingold is on its way to passage."

Thompson said he was "just delighted ... I hope some of my Republican colleagues will smell the coffee, and see that we've acceded to some of their legitimate arguments about the bill."

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