just a new member himself, mark pryor was called on to join forces with the lions of the senate -- john warner, robert c. byrd, danny inouye -- to forge a compromise over judicial nominations that averted a threat to a bigger confronteddation. that compromise, mark said, was the result of perspiration, not inspiration. i disagree. it involved the inspiration of a young senator from arkansas who realized that public service often meant trying to work together and reason together and to try to break down in your own individual fashion the dysfunction of washington. i worked with mark on so many things over the years and as a whip i went to him many times and we talked about difficult votes. i always found him to be honest, straightforward, highly principled. we didn't always come to the same conclusion on the vote, but i respected him every time because i knew that he gave thoughtful consideration to both sides when it came to his vote. he was going to do what was right in his own heart and especially what was right for arkansas and i knew that would make the final decision when it came to the vote. i also want to put