California's $40 billion-plus budget fix stalled in the state Senate early Sunday morning, as both houses of the Legislature were locked down until sunrise.

Here's a tick-tock on the highlights -- many on video -- of the night's events.

The 5 (p.m.) o'clock hour Floor sessions began in both houses.

The 6 o'clock hour: One of the early dramas of the Valentine's Day session was how Sen. Lou Correa would vote. The Orange County Democrat hadn't committed to supporting the plan before Saturday night, even though Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg had said, "I expect all the Democrats to vote for the budget. Absolutely. No exception."

Then, Capitol Alert broke the story that "language had been inserted... that would give Orange County $35 million in additional property tax revenues in the coming fiscal year; $35 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year, and up to $50 million annually after that."

Correa's vote was in the bag.

"Every senator represents almost a million people. And every senator has the absolute right to fight for their districts," Steinberg said. "There's nothing wrong with it. It's a time honored tradition in the budget process that members have the right to raise district issues. And the art is to always balance the interests of your constituents and the broader interests of California."

The 7 o'clock hour: Correa took questions from a small gaggle of TV and print reporters on how he would vote.

"Right now, as you know, there's a discussion that there be some taxpayer equity for the residents of Orange County. And that's a project that I've been working on for probably 10 years. And I'm hoping that will be part of a possible agreement that we reach tonight," Correa said.

The 8 o'clock hour: Capitol Alert grabbed a quick interview with San Francisco Sen. Mark Leno. The Democrat said, "This is either the love budget or the St. Valentine's Day massacre."

Floor sessions began in both houses. Less controversial parts of the package won passage with relative ease and little debate in the Assembly.

In the Senate, the 2009-10 budget bill stumbled.

Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, called the package a "Valentine's Massacre" as nearly the full GOP caucus nodded in agreement. A couple of GOP senators whispered to one another that Strickland stole their line.

Then the schmoozing began. Both Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, one by one, stopped to plead their cases with Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield. Steinberg chatted up Ashburn for more than a minute, while Bass and Ashburn had a heart-to-heart for more than two minutes. Bass' stop include numerous pats of Ashburn's shoulder.

In a preliminary roll call, Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill was the only Republican to cast an "aye" vote on a key piece of the budget puzzle. Ashburn abstained, while every other Republican senator opposed the budget bill.

The Senate called the roll again. Despite all the attention, Ashburn abstained again, though he is now expected to support the budget plan once a third GOP vote emerges.

The 9 o'clock hour: With passage stalled in the upper house, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Sen. Dave Cox, R- Fair Oaks, into his office for a private meeting. Cox, alone, walked the first floor of the Capitol to Schwarzenegger's office and declined to answer Capitol Alert's questions about his vote.

The door to the governor's office was locked when Cox arrived.

Then Ashburn entered the governor's office, followed by GOP leader Dave Cogdill.

As you can see, no one answered questions on the way in...or the way out:

Cox:

Ashburn said he didn't meet with the governor, but with his staff. They were just "shooting the breeze," he said.

Cogdill exited the governor's office and didn't respond to the now-three reporters awaiting his exit. He put his cell phone to his ear to pretend being on the phone until he passed the reporters.