Dems, GOP still at loggerheads as clock ticks

The GOP-controlled House and the Democratic Senate — including the two candidates for the Montana Senate seat up for election in 2012 — remain at loggerheads over debt legislation required to avoid a first-ever default on U.S. financial obligations as lawmakers and the White House head into a pressure-packed weekend in search of compromise.

A week of extraordinary partisanship was capped by a power play by Senate Democrats, who killed a House-passed debt limit increase and budget-cutting bill Friday night less than two hours after it squeaked through the House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Rei...