A breakthrough came after the current governor of Sinaloa, Mario López Valdez, joined Ms. Barbata's cause last year and petitioned for Pastrana's repatriation.
The governor, elated, called it a breakthrough.
As the designated grownup in the Republican establishment, the Ohio governor is pinning his hopes on breakthrough in New Hampshire not Iowa.
The unexpected meeting between the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and the provincial governor, Abdusakur Tan, revived hopes of a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations for the hostages' release.
Clinton holds a big lead in national polls over Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who are both still searching for breakthrough moments that could shift the dynamic.
McAuliffe's spokesman, Brian Coy, said the governor stands by the gun deal as a bipartisan breakthrough in an area where compromise has been hard to come by.
But major breakthroughs have come from a Pennsylvania Senator and New York's Governor on issues of evacuation and shut-down.
There also was a glimmer of a political breakthrough in the storm region in the United States this week, as Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, made a tour of battered areas with Barack Obama, the Democratic president.
One breakthrough is a new function announced at a session hosted by former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, who was Secretary of Health & Human Services under George W. Bush.
In December Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, gave permission for construction work to begin, scoring an important breakthrough for Mr Abe.
