"The strategy is to exact as high a price as possible for bipartisanship," Hudson Institute senior fellow Marshall Wittmann said. "The Democrats know that to a certain extent they are in the catbird seat."
Republicans will control not only the White House but also the House and the Senate – but only by a razor-thin majority. The GOP majority in the House is a slim 221 to 212, and the Senate will be split 50-50 with Vice President-elect Dick Cheney breaking any tied votes as president of that chamber.
So, Republicans technically hold all the power in Washington. But the margins are so slim Democrats can easily create chaos or gridlock, and Republicans could face the blame.
In effect, full control of the White House and Congress – even by such a slim majority – may leave Republicans with few excuses if they don't make any legislative progress, Democrats said. Republicans might thereby be forced to move Democrats' bills.
"A lot will depend on whether the Republicans want to work with the Democrats," New Democrat Network President Simon Rosenberg said. "They are in charge. They are going to have to set the tone and the agenda."
But Republicans said Wednesday that Democrats' attempts to create gridlock could backfire. "I think it could be a loser for either party to just try to have their way or block things," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said.
Liberal Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said Democrats might still look guilty for gridlock even though Republicans technically control Washington. "They could use it to their political advantage," she said. "But it could work against them if they do not work in a constructive manner."
Some Republicans are already predicting that Democrats will create a stalemate with the next elections on the horizon.
"Their motivation is to take back the House and the Senate in 2002 and the White House in 2004," Sen. Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island said.
Democrats said the win by Bush would only galvanize Democrat voters and drive them to the polls in 2002. Democrats could be angered by a Bush victory that comes despite Gore's claim he won the popular vote.
The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that seems to have handed Bush the White House is considered by many to reflect a split along political and ideological lines, only exacerbating Democrats' anger.
Some racial minority groups might be motivated by what they saw as disparities in voting infrastructure that they claim led to some minority votes being thrown out or not counted, Democrats said.
All of those factors could drive a huge win for the Democrats in 2002. "We are going to have much higher turnout," AFL-CIO AFSCME President Gerald McEntee told United Press International.
"My members are enraged. ... We are going to turn out an incredible vote of working families and African-Americans. They understand what happened. They get it. And we are going to show them in 2002 and 2004."
That motivation might be even greater if unofficial recounts suggest that Gore won Florida. Under the state's "sunshine laws," media organizations and others could get access to the ballots and conclude – of course, depending on who does the counting – that Gore did get more votes there.
Pundits predict the wave of Democrat support might mirror the 1994 elections, when Republicans took full control of the House and the Senate. "The Democratic base is going to be as energized as the Republican base was in 1994," Wittmann said.
But Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said Democrats should work with Republicans because it is best for the country. "They are elected by the people to do the people's business," Specter said.
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