What if the Democrats take over Congress? It's no big deal, argues Bruce Bartlett in today's New York Times.

As a Republican, I have a message for those fearful of Democratic control: don't worry. Nothing dreadful is going to happen. Liberals have much less to gain than they believe. . . . President Bush will still occupy the White House for the next two years. And although his veto pen may have been misplaced for most of the last six years, he found it again this summer.

For another thing, Democrats are unlikely to get more than a very thin majority in the House. If they get the Senate as well, it will not be with more than a one-vote margin. Consequently, effective control will be in the hands of moderates who often work with Republicans on specific issues. . . .

Democrats may have more success using Congressional committees to investigate accusations of wrongdoing by the Bush administration, but that will be much harder than they think. The Republicans cut thousands of committee staff positions when they took control, and it will take considerable time to find the money and staff to do any serious investigating. . . .

The only thing left to worry about is expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which Democrats will certainly not want to extend. But most of them don't expire until 2010, so there is no urgency. Anyway, there is no certainty that continued Republican control of Congress would assure extension of the tax cuts. If party control were all that mattered, they would have been extended already.

Daniel Drezner adds some thoughts here.