One of the things that the press corps in Washington is salivating over is to see some kind of fight break out between Larry Summers, the chair of the National Economic Council, and Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary. I find this is a frequent topic of conversation among journalists given Summers's brash, some would say pugnacious, reputation.

I don't claim to be privy to their conversations any more than I am to Barack and Michelle's or Hillary's and Bill's. But my sense from someone who knows them both quite well and has worked with them since the election is that they continue to get on extremely well and that those looking for conflict are looking in the wrong place.

The person points out that Summers and Geithner are longtime friends. It was Summers, as much as Bob Rubin his oft cited mentor, who helped lift Geithner out of the ranks of accomplished civil servants into the stratospheric financial world he's inhabited since. "Larry was there for Tim," says the person. So they have a longtime friendship going for them as well as the debt that comes when one man helps another's career.

The second thing that's binding them is ideology. This person did not see any significant daylight between them on where they stand in terms of reviving the economy. Chasms may develop over time but there's no reason at the moment to thing they're differing on TARP, stimulus, trade or, say, the executive compensation plan unveiled today.

Third, the person noted the profound mellowing of Summers who was genuinely chastened by his experiences at Harvard. They note that he learned to trim his brashness and is very conscious of the fact that the president wants a no-drama White House as much as he wanted a no-drama campaign. Add to that the idea that Summers is in a role that calls on him to be an honest broker between competing economic agencies as well as an advocate for various policies and he's even more likely not to wind up in some pitched battle. The source also notes that Summers, now remarried, has been tamed somewhat by that experience. As for me, I should add that I know Summers a bit socially.

That said, the person I spoke with, thought you might see intra-administration fights down the road between Geithner and Summers on one hand and, say, someone else on the other. The person raised the possibility, noting it had not happened and probably wouldn't, that over an issue like China trade policy, with its political and defense implications, Summers-Geithner might find themselves at odds with Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates. In other words, there was nothing thus far to suggest the riff between Tim and Larry that everyone is expecting. Anway, will continue to watch this space but thus far it seems harmonious--expectedly to those who know both men and surprisingly to those who don't.