WASHINGTON – The eight senators meet in private several times a week, alternating between Sen. John McCain’s and Sen. Charles Schumer’s offices.

They sit in armchairs arranged in a circle and sip water or soft drinks as they debate temporary workers and border security. In a capital riven by partisanship and gridlock, they are determined to be the exception and actually get something done.

This is immigration reform’s “Gang of Eight.” With them lies the best hope in years for overhauling the nation’s byzantine immigration laws – and they know it. That’s partly why they are, by all accounts, working amazingly well together as a self-imposed deadline approaches for their sweeping legislation to be released.