TODAY, friends, let us praise great meetings in American history.

Such as the meeting of Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark.

And the meeting of Mr. Astaire with Ms. Rogers.

And Mr. Martin with Mr. Lewis.

Add to these great meetings the intimate weekend just spent by Mr. Glendening, the departing governor of Maryland, and Mr. Ehrlich, the incoming.

In an hour or so, they blazed paths undreamed of by Mr. Lewis or Mr. Clark.

They invented a song and dance far more entertaining than Fred and Ginger's.

And they bring us comedy that Dean and Jerry would have found hilarious.

So they've fixed up the budget mess, have they? That's the news out of Austin, Texas. That's what Parris N. Glendening and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. are cheerfully reporting from their tete-a-tete at the National Governor's Association meeting.

And there we have it: more unfortunate proof that politics is the art of behaving as if nobody (especially voters) has any memory.

Because, after a summer of verbal shrapnel, and hand-wringing that Maryland was deep in debt and couldn't possibly escape the poorhouse (without a slot machine fix), the Democrat Glendening and the Republican Ehrlich put their heads together for about an hour and said they figured out a way to save the state.

They have become the Odd Couple of Maryland politics.

Tonight's comic episode: Felix and Oscar clean up the apartment, and the $500 million deficit, too. Next year's estimated $1.1 billion shortfall? Don't worry about it. They can figure that one out during the commercial break.

Glendening says he hopes to leave office with a clear slate and a clean conscience - Oh, spare us the opportunity to start examining this guy's conscience at such a late date - and says he has developed a plan to leave Ehrlich with a big financial reserve by eliminating the deficit in this year's budget.

"I outlined a plan for him so that we leave this budget totally in the black, no deficit and a very hefty reserve," Glendening told The Sun's Tim Craig.

Ehrlich, calling Glendening's proposal "solid," said he was "very appreciative" that the governor made the effort, and that he offered such strong proposals.

(How "appreciative," exactly? Appreciative enough to make Glendening chancellor of the University of Maryland system? But we digress.)

The two men not only straightened out the budget mess - they bonded! They talked about their children! Probably, like most new couples, they started with something they had in common: the marvelous way they combined to defeat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for governor. Ehrlich tossed the heavy grenades - Remember all those TV commercials about intractable budget problems? Remember all those cries about the Glendening-Townsend "culture of corruption" in Annapolis?

Over the weekend, Glendening said he holds no grudge against Ehrlich. "I always recognize that campaigns are run vigorously," he said. "Bob ran a good, vigorous campaign, and he won."

This is a slight contrast from his remarks election night about Townsend's campaign. Glendening was quoted as saying it was "one of the worst-run campaigns in the country."

Glendening did not mention his role in Townsend's loss: such as Glendening infuriating fellow Democrats (in particular, William Donald Schaefer) with those smarmy anti-Schaefer ads that Glendening paid for out of his own political bankroll. And he offended voters of all political stripes, who gave him popularity ratings as low as any governor's in America.

Townsend, of course, didn't help herself. Why didn't she divorce herself from Glendening? (If she needed advice about a quick divorce, she certainly knew where to get it.)

But here's the question of the day: If Glendening could figure out the budget mess in an hour in November, why couldn't he have taken a few hours to figure it out months ago?

This could have done several worthwhile things (beyond the obvious political relief it would have given Townsend). It would have eliminated a summer of acrimonious charges that the state's money had been spent irresponsibly. It would have eased the minds of thousands of state employees worried sick that they might lose their jobs in budget cutbacks - and thousands more people worried about government cuts in services.

But now, as it turns out, the budget's not so bad. They said so over the weekend, didn't they? After a summer of political smears, the happy Odd Couple of Maryland worked things out in about an hour.

They blazed more trails than Lewis and Clark. They gave us a better song and dance than Fred and Ginger. They're funnier than Dean and Jerry.

What introductory meeting could mean more to history?

When Larry met Moe and Curly?