A few months back, I started to look at this, but butted up against the problem of not really knowing the rules too good.

That's a work in progress - but it did occur to me to float one way that the GOP might approach minority status in (let's suppose) both houses of the 110th.

Naturally, the ¡No pasarán! strategy is open to them: clearly, the Dems are not going to get any legislation enacted over Bush's veto; and they're unlikely to be able to defeat a properly managed filibuster.

But there are costs to being in-your-face obstructive - the do nothing tag reworked - that, no doubt, the GOP would rather avoid, if possible.

There's more...

In the first piece in the series, I looked at the ways that, in the light of experience during his father's term, Bush II might look to exploit his veto power.

The veto establishes a solid defense for the GOP. But

• Bush can't practically veto every bill he doesn't like; and

• the anger and resentment among GOP MCs at the effrontery of the voters in giving control to the Dems has to have an outlet!

My feeling is that, in the dozen years they will have had control of the Congress (the Jeffords episode excepted), the GOP MCs have retained their outsider mindset. (Quite how much they believe the crap, I don't know. But most of them act as if they believe it most of the time.)

There's more...