This is pure counterintuitive speculation on my part (one of my favorite hobbies!), but here's a scenario where the GOP's triumph yesterday in Massachusetts could end up hurting them.

Because the Republicans now have 41 votes in the Senate, all they need to do to block a Democratic bill is hold their caucus together (or, if they lose a vote such as Sen. Olympia Snowe, poach a wobbly Democrat like Sen. Ben Nelson or Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman).

Now, you can do two things with this kind of electoral power. One, you can use your veto threat to force the majority to compromise. Two, you can use the veto power to block all the opposition's initiatives outright.

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Large portions of the populist right currently would probably like to see Republicans take the second choice. "Compromise" is a dirty word among conservatives who see their 2008 defeat being due to the Bush administration abandoning conservative principles on things like spending to win votes. There are also bitter memories of how the Democrats behaved as the minority, particularly with regards to judicial appointments.

So let's say that, by and large, Republicans hold ranks and block Obama's initiatives in health care, the environment, education, the budget, and more. From a tactical standpoint, this is a brilliant success. And it'll fire up your base, which helped fuel Scott Brown's surprising victory in a deep-blue state.

But it also potentially lifts a huge burden from Democrats. Taking advantage of President Obama's bully pulpit, they could lay out a series of populist goals ostensibly targeted at creating jobs, reining in big banks, reforming education and expanding health care reform. Republicans block them. Democrats then campaign in 2010 against the "party of no" blocking much-needed reform.

As long as Democrats had the House, 60 votes in the Senate and the presidency, the ball was in their court, and voters held them responsible for both what they didn't do (create more jobs), what they did do (increase the deficit) and what they tried to do (reform health care). Democrats efforts to corral together the votes to pass legislation like health care reform ended up turning off voters through insider politics like the "Nebraska compromise" and the "Louisiana purchase." Republicans have benefited by running against the system and against Washington politics.

But if Democrats can't get anything done, they can stop trying to play the distasteful inside game and embrace the pure, campaign-style rhetoric voters like — the rhetoric behind which they won in 2008.

There's a lot of assumptions in that scenario about both what the Democrats and Republicans could do, and it's probably quite unlikely. But as a conjecture, it's worth keeping in mind to remember that things change very quickly in today's political environment. A year ago Obama was on top of the world. Today conservatives are labeling him a "lame duck." A few months from now the situation could be entirely different once again — imagine, for instance, what would happen if unemployment drops four points by October?

For now, though, everyone's watching both parties to see what they do next with this new balance of power.