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U-S President Bill Clinton and Republican leaders in Congress say they're ready to try balancing the budget together as well as jointly tackling other issues where they share common ground.

The President went to Capitol Hill Tuesday where he joined House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in a pledge to work for bipartisan reforms.

Republicans say it's a positive move by the President to show support for a balanced budget, despite major difference that remain on key issues.

The word for the day in Washington Tuesday was bipartisan.

And the campaign to spread the bipartisan message began at the White House Tuesday morning.

There President Clinton met with a panel of Republican and Democratic lawmakers backing campaign reform.

He told the bipartisan group he was ready to talk business with Republican leaders in Congress.

SOUNDBITE:
"I think we have got an enormous opportunity here to do great things, together."
SUPER CAPTION: Bill Clinton, U-S President

It was in that spirit that the President took his message, once again, to Capitol Hill.

He came at the invitation of Republican leaders, who were just as eager to show they're ready to put their half of the bipartisan foot forward.

And it was the very man who stood eye to eye against Bill Clinton in budget battles past who signalled a very different message Tuesday.

SOUNDBITE:
"If we could have a bipartisan agreement on the budget; a bipartisan effort on education reform, I think we could get a great deal done for the American people this year. And I think that that's the spirit in which we enter into these discussions and hope that from them they'll have many discussions at many levels, getting a lot of different things done for the American people."
SUPER CAPTION: Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House

Republican leaders came out of their mini summit with the president to proclaim areas of common ground -- in education, crime and other issues.

There was even talk of writing a bipartisan budget to get things off to a good start.

SOUNDBITE:
"Maybe we ought to look at a way of handling the budget so instead of having the Republican budget, the Democratic budget, we could have a base document and then allow amendments from both sides.
SUPER CAPTION: Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House

The Speaker's Republican team mate in the Senate couldn't hide the fact that there are major differences with Democrats yet to resolve.

It's a fact he says that has been put aside, for now.

SOUNDBITE:
"Clearly there's some areas where there is substantial disagreement, and we touched on those occasionally and decided that, you know, so there's no use focusing on those today."
SUPER CAPTION: Trent Lott, Senate Majority Leader

But old habits die hard.

And some Republicans couldn't help but dismiss Bill Clinton's presidential peace offering preferring to call his latest budget more of the same.

SOUNDBITE:
"He has a very charming and persuasive personality. Looking at the cold hard numbers, I don't see this budget as being any more realistic than the kinds of budgets we've seen in the least 30 years that have got us in the problem we're in."
SUPER CAPTION: Robert Bennett, Republican Senator - Utah

And the president's partner says that as long as the leadership in both parties shows they're willing to deal, that's the way it will be.

SOUNDBITE:
"The experts in both parties who are the chairs and ranking members and the interested senators and members of congress, will carry the ball forward with the blessing of the bipartisan leadership and the president to try to clear away obstacles so that we can move swiftly forward."
SUPER CAPTION: Al Gore, U-S Vice President.

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