While Republicans had to be disappointed in losing the race for governor against a vulnerable incumbent with low approval ratings, they did make modest but significant gains in the House and Senate that could influence the budget debate in Hartford next year. Whether they can take advantage of that opportunity may well depend on the ability of Republican lawmakers to find common ground with moderate Democrats on fiscal policy.

In the House of Representatives the Republicans had a net gain of 10 seats, with the Democratic majority down to an 87-64 advantage, the strongest GOP showing since 1994. Over in the Senate the net gain was only one - with Republican East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica winning the 20th District seat that opened when Democratic Sen. Andrea Stillman opted not to seek re-election. Democrats now hold a 21-15 majority in the Senate.

Most significantly, Democrats will now need the support of Republicans in the legislature if they have any notion of exceeding the spending cap mandated by the 28th Amendment to the Connecticut Constitution, passed in 1992 as a means of controlling spending after the politcally unpopular enactment of the state income tax. The cap limits spending increases to no more than the annual growth in personal income or inflation.

To exceed the cap, the governor must declare a state of "fiscal exigency" and 60 percent of legislators in both chambers must go along. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, working with Democratic majorities, did it twice.

As things stand now, Democrats are four votes shy of the 60 percent level in the House and one vote shy in the Senate, making Formica's victory certainly significant.

Given those numbers, it is unlikely Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would make a bid to exceed the cap. He never attempted to do so during his first term, when he had the numbers. However, dealing with the cap will become a growing challenge in his second term.

What is more likely to happen will be attempts by the administration to get around the cap. Bonding is exempt from the cap, raising the temptation to borrow to meet ongoing operating expenses, with the promise of paying off the credit card when times are better. This was a trick used during the latter years of the Rell administration, contributing to the massive deficits Malloy inherited when elected in 2010.

Malloy and the Democratic majority could also attempt other accounting maneuvers to avoid the cap limits. During his first term, for example, the state stopped counting against the cap any state money spent on Medicaid if that money is eligible for federal reimbursement, spending that accounts for about $2.3 billion annually and growing. The rationale was the money spent on Medicaid was only a pass through, not a state expenditure, because ultimately the feds cover the cost. It was a valid argument.

Other moves were more questionable, such as funneling money for charter schools through poor communities because aid to those communities is exempt from the cap, a slight of hand noted by Connecticut Mirror reporter Keith Phaneuf in a recent Connecticut Mirror article about the spending cap.

Republicans can call out such fiscal stunts. To have real influence on fiscal policy, however, they will have to use their increased numbers to form partnerships with fiscally moderate Democrats. This seems more likely in the House.

It will be a test of the leadership skills of the two new Republican minority leaders - Sen. Len Fasano of North Haven and Rep. Themis Klaridesof Derby - to see if they can move beyond angry press announcements condemning Malloy and the Democrats, and actually influence spending policy by prying away a few votes from the other side.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.

p.choiniere@theday.com

Twitter:@Paul_Choiniere