[Politics] Mark Kennedy and the line-item veto

Listening to MPR in the shower this morning (ooooh sexy!). The GOP in MN had its state convention last week, there was much chest thumping, much jingoism, much 'stay the course'blah blah blah. There were formal party endorsements, among them Mark Kennedy, who despite his recent spin-doctoring voted in line with the Administration's agenda 90+% of the time. In the piece they mention his many stances on issues:

* staying the course in Iraq
* push for more tax cuts (probably for his wealthy corporate overlords)
* line item veto for Bush

wait...

line-item veto for Bush? I seem to remember about 10 years ago when Clinton had line-item veto power, Congress got its undies in a knot. Oh wait that's right, the Congress back then was Republican majority and Clinton was a Democrat. I can't understand why line-item veto power for Bush is on the agenda again unless the Republicans are scared that they will be losing a majority in one or both Houses of Congress. I can see a lot legislation contray to what the Administration wants in that scenario and since Bush up until this point has not vetoed anything (but many many a 'signing statement', a little thing that allows the President to ignore pieces of law) may now want the power to veto out pieces of law he (or more likely Cheney) do not like. Speculation on my part yes, but it seems strange that discussion of line-item veto is coming up again.