The stalemate over a proposed acquisition of the northern Maine rail line kept members of the Maine Senate in a tense debate into the wee hours of the morning. The rail purchase is included in an $85 million bond package that received two-thirds support in the House but was derailed in the Senate by Republicans, who held firm and denied Democrats the two-thirds majority they needed to send the plan to the voters in June.

But House Republican Josh Tardy, of Newport, says his party is ready to start over on a new approach to meeting some of the Democrats' goals. "I think the Senate action last night sent a very clear message that the bond package that came up on a majority report out of committee does not have the votes for passage and therefore we can start back at square one."

House Republican leaders are assuming a take-no-prisoners stance on any new borrowing beyond the $150 million in bonds that were approved by the Legislature last June. As part of that agreement, $70 million dollars in bonds are already scheduled to be on the June ballot. Tardy says that rather than add to that amount, Maine taxpayers would be better served if the already approved questions were restructured to reflect new priorities.

But state Sen. Bill Diamond, a Windham Democrat and co-chair of the Appropriations Committee, says Democrats aren't going to plow that ground again. "I'm not sure there's much appetite for changing that," he says. "I think the question is, do we wnat to addon and make these proposals become a bond issue that voters, by the way, can decide on -- they have the final say."

Further complicating Tardy's position is the fact that there are some Senate Republicans who would be willing to support a smaller bond package, if it includes money to save the Aroostook County rail line, and associated jobs.

While bipartsianship has largely been the hallmark of the 124th Legislature, things started going downhill late in the evening in the Senate as Bucksport Republican Sen. Richard Rosen chided Democrats for choosing to ignore what he says was an agreement to limit bonds for the entire length of the legislative session.

"We agreed a year ago, Republicans and Democrats, to a biennial general obligation borrowing package of $150 million," Rosen said. "The proposal now before us is to add another $85 million, so that we will be in a posture to go forward with $235 million of general obligation borrowing, a quarter of a billion dollars."

But Democratic Senate Majority Leader Phillip Bartlett said Rosen was mistaken, at least when it comes to the terms of the agreement. "We did work in good faith, Republicans and Democrats, to negotiate $150 million bond package of which we are all proud," he said. "We were very clear in those negotiations, however, that we were not negotiating a two-year package."

State Sen. Troy Jackson, an Allagash Democrat, showed that partisan differences aren't the only factors at play here. Jackson asked for his colleagues in the southern part of the state to help save rail access for industries that employ more than 1,700 workers in the north. But Jackson said he did not want the debate to become one of north-versus-south.

"I'm standing here in the county of Aroostook that's severely depressed and has very few people, and it's evidenced by the fact that there's only two of us in this county that are senators," he said. "We have no voting power really at all as the biggest county in the state of Maine, and I'm asking that we pass a bond package because we need this railroad up there. And I'm asking the people from Portland that have -- I'm not even sure -- five or six senators to help me."

Members of the Senate are scheduled to reconvene Monday to continue their discussion on bonds.