roachboy...I know how the Republicans maintained a voting block in the House when they had the majority.....the "Hastert Rule"
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert would not allow a bill or amendment to be considered on the floor unless it had the support of the "majority of the majority". That is, unless a majority of Republicans supported it.
The worst example was the Medicare prescription drug bill...where there was a bi-partisan majority with an amendment to require negotiating prescription drug prices....but Hastert would not allow a vote because it did not have majority of Republican support.
Same with a vote on the 9-11 Commission recommendations at the time. I bi-partisan alternative was blocked from even being considered.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Nov26.html
Howard Dean had another explanation for the Republican voting pattern.
"Republicans are "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."
A bit of a stretch, but I think most would agree that the Democratic party is more diverse with a bigger tent.