Analysis: For once, gridlock takes a seat

By DAVID ESPO Associated Press Published:

WASHINGTON -- Sit down, gridlock. After years on the bench, compromise is taking a turn in Congress, however briefly, in the form of a budget deal that is modest in size yet marks a major step away from brinkmanship. It's a different model for America's divided government, nothing like the version pressed by the tea party adherents who stormed to power in the House three years ago. They have maneuvered their own Republican Party from showdown to self-defeating shutdown, with dismal approval ratings to show for it