Republicans will have their biggest House of Representatives majority since the Truman administration in the late 1940s, and, they believe, a mandate to slash spending dramatically and overturn President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law.

But their chances of success are dim, since Democrats will still control the White House and the Senate. That makes the potential for getting serious work done in 2011 difficult to predict.

Over at Capitol Hill, change is in the making with members moving in and members moving out. All of this takes place over the holidays.

It is, indeed, a mess. Old timers say you can tell which members are going and which are staying based on whether there's furniture outside their door. 

Incoming members get fresh paint on the walls and a new carpet… thus the furniture outside the office doors.

And while no major scandals rocked the political world, there was the usual weirdness, including a Republican Senate candidate who felt compelled to run an ad assuring voters that she wasn't a witch and a Democratic House member who resigned after he added "tickle party" made the annals of 2010.

Outside Washington, change has already brought its share of problems.

Tea Party darling Republican Gov. Chris Christie landed in hot water with some New Jersey legislators and voters after leaving the state, along with Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, during this weekend’s blizzard. They both were vacationing out of state at the same time, leaving chaos to reign when the blizzard arrived and they were unable to return and oversee the state emergency.

On the West Coast, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared to be playing the new role of Father Scrooge when he told Californians that their next governor will inherit a budget mess “just like I did the first year when I came into office.”

The celebrity governor who swept into office in 2003 will step down next month without accomplishing his main goal: Fixing California's structural budget problems.

He leaves office with the state owing some $91 billion in total bond debt compared with $34 billion the year he took office, according to the state treasurer’s office.

While he can't hide the state's persistent deficit, Schwarzenegger is seeking to spread the blame for California's ongoing fiscal problems. The departing governor has faulted a steep drop in tax revenue on the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, lamented how a broken political system has resulted in gridlock over budget reforms and even chastised the media for their covering of the problem.

The state's budget challenge is viewed through a different lens today than when voters ousted Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and installed Gov. Schwarzenegger, voters now give Schwarzenegger, the same low approval rating they gave Gov. Davis before he was booted from office and express skepticism that he and lawmakers can solve the state's biggest problems.