It would be an understatement to say GOP lawmakers were pumped after unanimously opposing the stimulus bill in the House. Although they lost, they were thrilled that not a single Republican voted for what all agreed was a terrible bill; if even one or two among them had broken ranks to join the Democrats, the feeling wouldn't have been nearly as good.

"When we held our guys together, that had people extremely excited," Shadegg said. "Then there were the ongoing scandals with Democratic tax cheats, and I think Republicans are beginning to say, `Ah, there could be some fun in the minority.' "

"I'm much happier," Sen. Jim DeMint told me between votes on the stimulus. "Our message was so muddled with Bush in the White House, often going the big-spending approach, that we could not define ourselves in any other way."

Now, unmuddled, Republicans have won the first big message war of the Obama administration -- and in the stimulus battle made a better case for spending restraint than they did in the previous eight years.

"We have a focus we did not have before, because we were just trying to hang on to power," Sen. Lindsey Graham told me. "Instead of hanging our heads, we're picking good fights. In that regard, there is an energy among Republicans that is counterintuitive to the beating we just took."