Democrats now have large majorities in both the House and the Senate. They have a Democratic President (I might've mentioned his name once or twice before) that will be sworn in two weeks later. A major victory in my book.

But now, with the 2008 elections now over, the real battles will begin.

Here are the ones I foresee, in the order I think they'll be tackled, not their importance:

1. Did you buy that seat on eBay?
   
   In case you haven't heard Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested a few weeks ago for attempting to sell Barack Obama's now-vacant Senate seat. Despite his initial promise not to appoint anyone, last week he held a press conference to announce he was appointing Roland Burris. Senate Democrats now are working overtime to find a way to block Burris from being seated, since any appointment made by Blagojevich under these conditions will be suspect.
   
   There's a Constitutional question here about whether they have the authority to do this or not, but there's no doubt they can delay seating him until the legal actions (both indictment and possibly impeachment of Blagojevich) play out.
   
   
2. He's good enough, smart enough, but Doggone it, will the Senate seat him?
   
   One of the sub-stories of the 2008 election has been the Minnesota Senate election, which pit incumbent Republican Norm Coleman against Democrat (and SNL alum) Al Franken for one of MN's Senate seats.
   
   The original election results gave Coleman a very narrow lead -- some 200-ish votes out of nearly 3 million cast. Under MN election law, this triggered an automatic recount. This afternoon, the recount officially ended, with the board certifying Al Franken the victor by 225 votes.
   
   Coleman is vowing to contest the election results, and John Cornyn (R-TX) is promising to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken.
   
   So, likely tomorrow we'll already see sparks fly as Democrats seek to block the seating of one of their own for ethical reasons, while the Republicans seek to block a legally elected member of the opposing party for their usual self-serving reasons.
   
   
3. How big is Obama's Package^*?
   
   In case you've been living in a cave for the last bit, you might've heard we're having, well, a slight case of the Great Depression lately.
   
   Obama's been talking about a stimulus package since, oh, April at least, and now it's time to see if he can make it happen.
   
   There have been a lot of numbers floated about the size of Obama's stimulus package. Republicans have talked $0. Democratic Congressmen have talked $300-$400bn. Biden's hinted at $700-$800bn. The press speculated $1 trillion or more.
   
   Now the papers are abuzz with news about the package including $400bn worth of tax cuts. Many people seem surprised, but again, Obama's been talking about this for a loooong time...he plans on putting the "cut" portion of his tax plan into the simulus package. I'll be surprised if that's not the starting point for the bill that gets proposed -- the much vaunted middle-class and small-business tax cuts he campaigned on.
   
   During the campaign Republicans called it socialism. Let's see if they dust that one off for another try now.
   
   Whatever trick they decide to go with, Mitch McConnell just vowed, on Meet the Press, to delay all attempts at economic stimulus until he's satisfied there have been "enough" hearings.
   
   The opening moves are already in play on this one.
   
   * His stimulus package, pervert.
   
   
4. Eric who?
   
   To me, Obama's choice for Attorney General was the pick I watched most closely. This is the cabinet position that will ultimately tell us whether we will see investigations into the crimes committed by the Bush administration, or whether there will be a bipartisan cleanup.
   
   He's nominated Eric Holder, and what I've seen so far gives me hope -- especially the way the Republicans seem to be gearing up for a big battle over Holder's confirmation.
   
   Expect blasts from the past, as Republicans dig up Clinton-era bogeymen like Mark Rich and Elian Gonzalez to try to derail Holder's confirmation.
   
   I'm not sure why they think that will work, but I guess since he was Deputy Attorney General under Clinton, that's good enough to make him unsuitable in their eyes.
   
   This is one to keep an eye on. Hopefully this doesn't end up ranking with the other three battles I'm mentioning, and Holder passes with relative ease, but I've got a feeling this one will wind up being a big fight.
   

Those are just the opening act, things I expect us to see through this month and next.

A little further off, we're going to have fights about the Employee Free Choice Act ("card check" if you're a Republican), and Universal Healthcare. Expect Republicans to pull out every single stop to try to stop Universal Healthcare.

Frankly, I hope none of these battles get joined, and that the Republicans decide to try and constructively participate in the legislative process, rather than try to block any and all actions that Democrats try to make.

Unfortunately, when you look at recent history, that seems rather unlikely.