House is now set to give Bam the red light

Charles Hurt - Inside Washington

INSIDE DC

Las Vegas -- Winning control of the House does not put Republi cans in the driver's seat in Washington but will give them just enough of a toehold on power to scuttle any new initiatives from President Obama and generally make life miserable for Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Triumphant House Republicans are expected to reward their leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, with the speakership.

Last night, Boehner vowed to remain true to the principles of the battalion of new Republicans ushered into the House.

"We're going to do things differently," he promised.

Many of the new Republicans elected to the House last night are not your run-of-the-mill country-club Republicans but lean far more toward the Tea Party persuasion.

They will likely give Boehner and other Old Guard Republicans fits if leadership ever veers from a sensible conservative agenda.

This likely means no more earmarks, which are not only wasteful spending but also lead to rank corruption.

Also, they won big last night across the country by promising to hold true to their conservative principles and never give in to the big spending temptations that bedeviled the last Republican majority.

GOP leaders will not be able to pass anything without these young new Turks who are not likely to let the Old Guard return to the old party ways of cutting taxes without cutting spending and chomping at corrupt and wasteful pork.

Leading Republicans will likely be Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, a skillful vote counter who is popular among rank-and-file members.

As majority leader, he will be responsible for the nuts and bolts of pushing through the GOP agenda.

Just filling those top leadership positions without internal bloodshed is a small victory for Republican leaders eager to turn their sites on Obama and the liberal Democrats who have dominated Congress for four years.

Adding to this fervor and determination is the huge new infusion of fresh Republicans arriving in the freshman class.

The signature fight will most certainly to dramatically cut spending, which has become not just the battle cry of fiscal conservatives but also a leading moral issue among social conservatives horrified by the debt piling up for future generations.

And to the extent a more fiscally responsible federal government helps the economy is just icing on the cake.

"The American people understand that more 'stimulus' spending and more debt is the last thing our economy needs," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told The Post.

"So we're going to do something new: cut spending to help create jobs."

Just around the corner awaits more frightening news for Democrats, holding onto the Senate by a thread. In two years, more than 20 Democrats will be up for re-election.

House Republicans will gladly send the Senate popular spending bills and dare Democrats to kill them.

Either way, every vote Democrats cast will be the sharp memory of the licking they took this year and fear about the licking they -- and perhaps Obama -- may still be in for in two years.

churt@nypost.com