So far this year, the big question addressed by the pundits and bloggers has been whether the Republicans will lose control of the House in November's midterm election. But if they lose a few seats yet keep the majority, as several - myself included - have predicted, that creates a whole new set of difficulties for running the House effectively.

In particular, it would put heavy stress on Speaker Hastert's policy to only bring legislation to the floor if it has majority support of the Republican caucus. A narrow majority could make that difficult to maintain, as CQ Politics' David Nather points out:

All of the talk in political circles is about whether the country is preparing to sweep the Republicans out of power in the House and hand control over to the Democrats. But there is less talk of another scenario that, for now at least, is just as plausible: a near-miss that would leave Republicans in charge again, but just barely.

If the GOP hangs on to win all the races that are at least leaning its way at the moment -- and loses all the tossups and the contests where the Democrats are maintaining an edge -- they would go into the 110th Congress with 220 seats, just two more than the minimal majority. (Of course, which party has the advantage in which contests could change significantly in the next dozen weeks, either strengthening the Republicans' hand or tipping the odds solidly in favor of a Democratic takeover.)

But the fact that the Republicans' hold on power is so precarious right now raises the possibility that it could be just as shaky after Election Day. Republicans could find themselves in a scenario that in some ways is almost as bad as losing the House: holding on to power and the attendant responsibility but with diminished leverage for carrying it out. And Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, whose often-stated goal is to "please the majority of the majority," would have to decide whether that would still be a viable strategy for running the House.

A well reasoned analysis of the possibly altered universe after the election - read the whole thing at the link above.