Doomed to minority status next year, they are taking a parting shot at the victorious Republicans by forcing them to reapprove the taxes or slash spending.

But if victorious Republicans cannot make a good show of governing, Mr. Clinton could base his 1996 campaign on bashing the Republican Congress.

Then it will be time for everyone - Mr. Bush, the victorious Republicans and the people who opposed them - to decide what to do next.

While White House officials insisted that the elections were not a referendum on Mr. Clinton or his policies, many of the victorious Republicans had campaigned aggressively against the President, and espoused far more conservative views.

Newly victorious Republicans and a humbled Clinton Administration face their first big test even before the new Congress takes over in January, in a scheduled vote after Thanksgiving on whether to approve a long-delayed world trade pact.

Whether or not President Bush intends to make good on his promise to reach out to Democrats in his second term, victorious Republicans are already shaping a fresh agenda in Congress.

Even as President Clinton reached out to victorious Republicans, the White House was casting about today for ways to govern that would not require Congressional cooperation.

By the time the dust settled in Florida, and confronting a lukewarm response from the victorious Republicans, Mr. Clinton's team reluctantly decided that it had run out of time.

But they have faded in the harsh reality that a victorious Republican is rare in New York City.

"30 The Times sniffed that Shelby's "desertion to the victorious Republicans this week was hardly a huge surprise.