When the gavel falls to open this session of the Legislature, the most-watched parts will be how the Senate organizes.

It seems that Republicans &045; who are in the minority &045; will most likely end up with control of key chairmanships thanks to a handful of Democrats who have chosen a &8220;bi-partisan&8221; approach to state politics.

The real kicker here is that there is little true bi-partisanship at play. The truth is that the &8220;Democrats&8221; aligning with the Republicans are nothing more than DINOs &045; Democrats In Name Only. Most of them run in districts where a Republican would lose a local election but split on party loyalty at the state and federal level.

The Republican Party should be given credit for maneuvering this political coup. They played the cards dealt them, and Democrats would have done the same thing were they roles reversed.

Those who see this maneuver as a victory will point to a Democratic leadership that has smothered Republican ideas for years and say that a more bipartisan spirit would have prevented this. But we rarely see a bipartisan spirit in politics. It goes against the very nature of a multi-party system.

In the end, the majority of the general public probably cares little about political posturing. They just want to see good legislation passed.

With a split Legislature, passing any real legislation might be a challenge.