Article snippet: Even before senators reached an agreement Monday to re-open the government and walk the country back from the brink - assessing the political fallout was in full swing. More than 30 Democrats essentially flipped their votes to back a short-term extension in government funding in return for a public promise from Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he would allow a floor debate and vote on immigration before the new Feb. 8 funding deadline. Over the next two weeks or so, voters will get a better sense of the real impact and consequences of last weekend’s shutdown, but in the meantime - who blinked and who came out on top - at least for now? Here’s our take on the political winners and losers: Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. With the exception of a few rather predictable outliers, McConnell managed to keep the majority of Senate Republicans voting together as a bloc. And in just a few days, his team was able to persuade half of those Republican holdouts and a majority of Democrats to come around and re-open the government. He managed to broker a deal without really putting anything in writing and without having to put himself out there as the negotiator with the House or the White House. All he promised was to bump up immigration on the Senate schedule, which he controls. How the House or the White House react to whatever the Senate potentially passes, remains out of his hands. President Donald Trump Like McConnell, while ... Link to the full article to read more