True to its design by the Founding Fathers, the Senate looks at these issues with some of the same passions found by the House, but rarely acts on those feelings, instead looking for a route that involves compromise.

The deal that was struck in the Senate was as much a political deal on the bailout issue as much as it was a political deal on how best to wrap up work before the elections.

The only provision that Senators changed from the original bailout deal that went down to defeat in the House was to add in an increase in the government limit on FDIC insurance for bank accounts, raising it from $100,000 to $250,000.

The big change was adding over 300 pages of tax provisions relating to the Alternative Minimum Tax, renewable energy tax credits and a series of expiring tax provisions for both businesses and individuals known as "tax extenders."

The Senate had approved those provisions just last week by a 93-2 vote, so it wasn't hard to figure that would guarantee approval of the Wall Street bill.

For some Senators it was personal as well. Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio told me how on his street of two dozen homes, there are several for sale, one being rented because it couldn't be sold, and one in foreclosure.

When you start getting stories like that, you know that Congress is going to move.

Now the battle shifts back to the House. Democratic leaders there had their own package of tax extenders and had vowed never to accept the Senate's version this year.

Instead, Senate leaders have Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a very tight spot. If she wants to prolong this battle, it might cause some turmoil in the markets. We'll see what she does.

A bailout vote is now expected on Friday in the House. Despite a lot of teeth gnashing and hand wringing, I would think it will be approved the second time around.

Of course, I thought it would win approval on Monday too....