By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

The passage of the KC budget Thursday came after four days of intense politicking inside and outside City Hall.

Here's some of how the deal went down, day by day:

MONDAY

Officials with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce host City Manager Wayne Cauthen and a few other top city staffers.

Cauthen's message: He doesn't want to cut the budget too much in one year, especially through personnel reductions.

Later that day, the chamber's executive board meets with Mayor Mark Funkhouser. He's appalled to learn the board wants to take Cauthen's side in the budget debate; Funkhouser has been campaigning for deep budget cuts immediately.

The chamber board votes to endorse the go-slow approach.

TUESDAY

In an extraordinary session at City Hall, Cauthen and a phalanx of his top managers meet with City Council members Deb Hermann and Jan Marcason.

The two council members are the leaders of the effort to make dramatic budget changes, including freezing up to 275 city positions and eliminating more than 150 positions.

The city staffers tell both council members (and Funkhouser, who's there as well) that the city simply can't make such dramatic reductions in one year. It will take at least three years, according to the city staff.

But Marcason holds firm, at one point reportedly telling Cauthen she and Hermann have the votes to pass the tough-love budget.

Late Tuesday, Cauthen sends a message to the council members: He wants to meet with each one, individually, for 30 minutes on Wednesday.

He also puts out a lengthy, last-gasp memo, again saying that the Hermann/Marcason plan is too drastic and must be changed. But he also shows his hand, saying he agrees with parts of it.

WEDNESDAY

In an intelligent move, Hermann and/or Marcason decide to sit in on every meeting Cauthen has with a council member.

That enables them to argue their case -- and to watch for Cauthen's spin on the budget figures.

The sessions don't have their intended effect, at least from Cauthen's point of view.

Council members who might oppose the budget are left to argue for putting small amounts of money back into the budget.

Swing voters on the council such as Cindy Circo, Cathy Jolly and Ed Ford don't switch to the city manager's position.

By 4 p.m., a harried but determined Marcason shows up at a sewer funding task force she leads. "It's a miracle" that the budget is holding together, she jokes. More seriously, she says it's taken a lot of hard work.

THURSDAY

While rumors of last-minute deals swirl at City Hall, Hermann and Marcason have a signed deal with Cauthen: He now supports their tighter budget plan.

In a face-saving move for Cauthen, the final points of the deal are put out around noon on his stationary, but also signed by the council members.

Meanwhile, Funkhouser fires off an angry memo to chamber leaders, decrying their irresponsible position on the city budget.

During council debate, only John Sharp talks against the budget.

At one point, he talks almost wistfully of the time earlier in the week that he and his side may have had at least 6 votes to save more programs and personnel.

But it's too late now. Hermann, Marcason, Funkhouser and the council beat back any attempt to dilute the budget-cutting efforts.

The final vote: 12-1 in favor of trimming 180-plus city positions and freezing another 245, almost exactly as Hermann and Marcason had first sought weeks ago.

Yael T. Abouhalkah is a member of The Kansas City Star's Editorial Board.