Republicans could go all out, but they won't

You know the old joke: Starting Tuesday, March 3, hold on to your wallets. Florida's annual legislative session begins.

If truth be told, that joke pretty much has disappeared from most of the states, as well as from Florida. Republicans — alleged to be fiscally conservative — control 31 legislatures nationwide.

In Florida, we're about as red as you can get in the capitol. We have our Republican governor, 80 of 120 Republican House members (66%) and soon-to-be 26 of 40 Republican state senators (65%), each house just one shy of the veto-proof supermajority.