In Albany, he rejected the 2 percent property tax cap until lawmakers agreed to cut expensive legislative mandates that stress local community budgets.
He cut a legislative deal, which he has not exactly been known for up until now, instead preferring to give congressional Democrats all the time in the world to hash out their differences.
On the other hand, if properly tethered, the former House speaker could lend Romney the kind of insider experience he'll needs to resist becoming imprisoned by the House Republican leadership, and to cut critical legislative deals with the Democrats, especially if the GOP fails to recapture the Senate.
So as President Obama heads for Copenhagen, the question is whether his trip signals a willingness to make climate change a high-enough priority to cut through the legislative thicket and drive a bill home.
But Thune was right that legislators had, essentially, been cut out of the legislative process.
They also turned down Mrs. Rell's call to reject a contract arbitration award to state corrections employees and refused Republican proposals to make a symbolic 5percentt cut in legislative salaries.
He was re-elected in November against only nominal opposition, but he has been stripped of his committee chairmanship, had his legislative salary cut and lost many of the benefits that would ordinarily come to a lawmaker with his seniority.
But advocates for other causes worry that water may overshadow the state's other needs and divert attention from restoring the money to social services, parks, education and other programs that was cut during the last legislative session.
The new group hopes to cut through Washington's legislative logjams by harnessing the millions of volunteers and donors who helped elect Mr. Obama to a second term last fall, turning their enthusiasm and money to grass-roots lobbying on issues like immigration, climate change and the expansion of Medicaid.
