LEADING THE GROWN-UP PARTY:

[T]he core of the speech was a decidedly modest assessment of what voters were saying last November, followed by a lengthy appeal for bipartisan cooperation.

"The American people didn't ask for a government that tries to do everything, and fails; and they didn't demand a government that aims to do nothing, and succeeds," McConnell said. "They asked for a government that works."

"We're going to have to work together," he said. ""We're only going to pass meaningful legislation if members from both parties are given a stake in the outcome."

That, his lieutenants explained, is what McConnell sounds like when he's trying to be warm and fuzzy.

"We are trying to strike a new tone," said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). "There's a healthy list of issues on which people from both sides can work together."

As evidence, Portman and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) pointed to McConnell's decision to allow open amendments and debate on the Keystone XL bill next week -- something the last majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), rarely did.

McConnell allies have listed a decidedly non-revolutionary agenda of possible bipartisan legislation: corporate tax reform, infrastructure spending, trade agreements and tweaks to Obama's healthcare law (not a repeal, which a veto puts out of reach).

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