Beyond the Dome

So while he hangs out in St. Paul tonight, waiting to give the big speech tonight after the polls close, Barack Obama announced he has introduced a new bill -- with John McCain as a cosponsor.

Nope, that can't be right.

But there it is -- the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008, a follow-up to the 2006 law Obama co-authored with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, which created the USASpending.gov database -- often referred to as a "Google for government spending."

Obama and Coburn introduced a bill late today to make more information available through the database, such as copies of federal contracts and data on competitive bidding, and make it easier to search.

And sure enough, there are two co-sponsors: McCain and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware.

If you know the Senate, it's not actually as surprising as it sounds. Senators co-sponsor bills with their rivals all the time, as long as the subject isn't too far removed from mom and apple pie. (That's why Obama has co-sponsored Hillary Rodham Clinton's bills, and vice versa.)

And openness in government, which both Obama and McCain have tried to promote, isn't exactly the kind of subject that will get either one in trouble.

So when Obama and McCain bash each other on your TV screens tonight, just remember: At least they agree on making "Google for government spending" even better.