In the House, officials said the leadership was trying to move beyond the political spat and make some progress on the tax cut package, the chief Republican domestic economic initiative.

Like many great political spats, it all began with a speech.

The crossing closed again between May and October 2002 following a political spat between the Thai and Myanmar governments.

Some political experts said that besides the usual political spats, there might also be a fatigue in the Legislature.

After all, it's more fun reporting on political spats than on policy intricacies, and deep down, many reporters would rather be sportscasters.

And it was a political spat that set off this crisis, a possibility that investors in emerging markets need to factor into their investment decisions.

This isn't a petty political spat.

It's certainly wrong to turn this into yet another petty political spat, as many tried, disgustingly, to do.

And now the usual trade and fishing disputes have escalated into some of the nastiest political spats in years.