As the economy tanks and both parties scramble to come up with a solution, something new and strange is sweeping Washington: Both parties are actually working together. The spirit of bipartisanship, increasingly rare inside the contentious Beltway, has gone so far as to cause two votes on contempt charges for top White House aides to be postponed, Politico reports.

The impetus for such cooperation: A need both parties feel to pass a sweeping stimulus package that puts money back into consumers' (read: voters') pockets. The White House and Congressional Democrats met yesterday, and have been in frequent communication, over the basic outlines of a plan, and all sides -- including Congressional Republicans -- hope for a quick fix.

Despite the cooperation, both parties are strategizing about how to appear more cooperative than the other side. It's still politics, after all. "If something is going to be successful, it has to happen fast," one Senate Republican aide, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about ongoing negotiations, told Politics Nation. "If either side insists on a my-way-or-the-highway approach, it won't get 60 votes in the Senate -- and will die."

Republicans think they are winning the agreement war; tax hikes aren't a part of the initial package, and getting Democrats to admit that a tax break is good for the economy is more than just a moral victory for the GOP. "This won't be the package they want, and it will lean a lot more toward tax relief than anything else," the Republican said. "They've moved our way and taken tax hikes completely off the table."

Democrats, though, maintain that they still have the upper hand. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered their plan quickly, and negotiations are going harmoniously. If their package passes, they will be able to tell voters that the extra money in their pockets are because of Democrats who got Washington to work. Congressional Republicans, said one Senate Democratic aide, are negotiating out of necessity. "They see us leading on [the economy] and they needed to hop on board," the aide said.

Still, some Democratic aides wonder whether Republicans, who are playing nice right now, might walk away from the table instead of handing Democrats such a win. Getting Congress to act on an issue that is likely to play a major role in the 2008 elections, after all, is a powerful message. Republicans might decide, however, that participating in the stimulus package is a bigger win -- or a smaller loss -- than being blamed for inaction, even as the Republican White House works with Congressional Democrats.

Besides, says the Senate Republican aide, the time for serious disagreements has likely passed. "There are some that argue there is no need for an economic growth package, but now that everyone from Pelosi to the White House have acknowledged the utility of a package and are working to draft one, that ship has sailed," he said. "It's now just a matter of what its destination is."