Where there is smoke, there is fire -- will Alan Gross be released soon?

Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said they met with Gross for about two hours during a trip that included meetings with Cuban officials and they were optimistic about the release of Alan Gross.

That was two days ago. Today, they returned without Gross, saying the Cuban's insist upon a swap for the remaining Cuban Five and the US insisting that that would not happen. Flake and Udall refused to endorse the swap. Still, Flake said he does feel they are closer.

I still wonder if something is in the works. There has been a flurry of news about Alan Gross lately. Articles about him have been turning up in my "Google Alerts" pretty much every day, and the New York Times ran three editorials on Cuba and matters related to Alan Gross in the past month:

• Criticism of USAID's pro-democracy programs in Cuba, including the Alan Gross project
• A call for the end of the embargo
• A call for a prisoner swap for Alan Gross

Can you think of anything else a Republican and a Democrat senator agreed on during the last six years? In spite of this setback, momentum -- perhaps a PR campaign by the White House -- seems to be building and we still may see Alan Gross released.

Here is a video of the two senators talking about their views of Alan Gross and our relations with Cuba:

This video has been taken down -- I wonder why?????