Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
“I’ll give you two, although they’re not the only two… One is Jeff Bingaman — we worked together on the America Competes Act for two years, and the reason I was able to work with him is that we had the same goals. And I completely trusted him on the issue. We never surprised each other. No. 2 is Sen. Lieberman. We created a bipartisan breakfast which means almost every Tuesday morning, and the reason we worked together is the same thing: We had the same goal, to create an opportunity for senators to get together across party lines on a regular basis. And we don’t surprise each other. So I think having the same purpose and not surprising each other is the key… I’ll tell you a little story. In 1980, when Republicans won the Senate, Byrd was the Democratic leader and Howard Baker was the Republican leader. It was a sudden switch, and Baker went to Byrd and said, ‘Bob, I know I’ll never know the rules of the Senate as well as you do, but I’ll make a deal with you: If you don’t surprise me, I won’t surprise you.’ And Byrd said to Howard, ‘Let me think about it,’ then came back the next morning and said, ‘It’s a deal.’ And that’s the way they worked together.”
John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
“I like working with Mark Pryor. He’s been terrific, especially visiting on civility in the Senate. We’ve had a couple of dinners and lunches to talk about ways the party can work together more. We had an evening when we went to Vice President Biden’s residence. The idea is based on Washington’s farewell address and what we need for our nation. Mark brought it to our first dinner. Sen. Lott told me when I got here is that what happened is, once they started having senators go home every weekend, they didn’t move their families here and now spouses aren’t spending time together, your kids aren’t in the same schools, you’re not going to church together or standing together at Little League. So you don’t know each other as well, and you don’t have that camaraderie. Sen. Lott told me that he and Breaux have developed a really good relationship that way.”
Bob Bennett (R-Utah)
"Given the work we're doing on healthcare, I obviously have to say Ron Wyden. We're co-sponsors of the Healthy Americans Act. He's not ideological. I've got a long list of Democratic friends. In my committee assignments, I get along very well with Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd, and just compatibility with Daniel Inouye.”
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.)
"On the Appropriations Committee I've worked very closely with Barbara Mikulski and I'm now working very closely with Patty Murray. I've worked very well with Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd on children's issues. I worked very well with many members last year with FISA, to keep it on track. We don't have to agree on a lot of things or even if we disagree on most things, we can work together on the issues where we agree.”
Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)
“I’m working with Tom Harkin now, and I’ve worked with him before. He’s kind of easy to talk to, and he understands that to get something to move forward, it can’t be too far out there on either side. So I’ve found Tom good to work with. Interestingly enough, Ted Kennedy — if you can get his attention and it’s not a core topic. One of the funniest guys I’ve worked with was Paul Wellstone. He was just passionate. We’d call each other names for a little while and then we’d go on and work with each other. He was a lot of fun to work with… He came on to the floor one day and was yelling at me for saying in an interview that I believe that every human is beautiful and dignified and unique and sacred, and that includes Paul Wellstone and Ted Kennedy. He was saying ‘What are you naming me for?’ But what he was really yelling at me for was that some rankings had just come out on who was the most liberal and who was the most conservative member of the Senate, and he came on to the floor and said, ‘You did this to me!’ And I said ‘What?’ and he said ‘I was the most liberal one here, and because I’ve been working with you I’m now the second-most liberal member.’ He wanted to be first. So I told him, ‘Hang around with me, and I’ll get you reelected.’ ”
Jim Bunning (R-Ky.)
"No.”
More:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/republicans-pick-most-bipartisan-democrats-2009-04-20.html
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