From the NYTimes:

The stage for this political spectacle was a vote over a Democratic proposal to counter Mr. Bush's demand for unaffordable tax cuts by requiring offsetting savings in spending if the president's "temporary" cuts are to be made permanent. The vote was supposed to last five minutes, but it was held open for 23 extra minutes in a clear abuse of House rules.

The G.O.P. whips used the time to twist the arms of enough moderate Republican members to produce a 209-to-209 tie — the barest margin they needed to head off an embarrassing rebuff of President Bush's budgeting plans.

The proposal, on which 11 Republicans held fast in voting for responsible budgeting, was nothing more than a motion to reimpose the accounting process that brought fiscal sanity and ultimately surpluses to the runaway budgets of the 1990's. That the House leaders had to make such a desperate scramble was evidence that the skittish core of G.O.P. moderates realizes that voters are beginning to worry about the decade of deficit and debt being piled up by Mr. Bush's tax-cutting zeal.

Regime Change in '04. For all the correct reasons. Not the Right ones.