They're not going to run the place. Daschle may be demanding so much in hopes of coming away with modest gains. He'd like to see Lott give more consideration to Democratic amendments on the Senate floor. If Bush is elected and Democrats don't get some say in running a 50-50 Senate, Democrats warn, they will take their revenge by chaining Dick Cheney to his Senate chair. They will constantly force him to leave the White House and motor down Pennsylvania Avenue to cast tie-breaking votes on an endless river of procedural items.
Funerals are the least of it.
Cheney, Bush's most experienced Washington hand, is already running the pretransition, a first for a vice-presidential candidate. Here's what they mean. In 1994, when Bush became Governor, he enlisted the aid of the state's most powerful politician, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock. Crusty, profane, nearing the end of his life and as wise in the ways of Texas politics as Bush was new to the game, Bullock was a Democrat who controlled the state senate. He took the rookie under his gnarled wing, taught him well and helped steer his agenda through the legislature.