As the House gets set to vote today to override President Bush's veto of the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Democrats think they're riding high. A memo emailed to reporters today cited several polls showing the SCHIP program as widely popular, and Democrats hope they can paint Republicans as voting in lock-step with the president when, as is expected, the override vote fails.

The poll numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of SCHIP: A CBS poll showed 81% of Americans back the expansion, while an NPR poll had 70% approving of adding $35 billion to the program. The NPR poll and a CNN poll showed 64% and 60%, respectively, in favor of overriding the veto.

Republicans have some poll numbers of their own. A release yesterday highlighted a Gallup poll showing 52% support the program's expansion going to families who make under $41,000 a year, as opposed to those making $62,000 a year.

The GOP is taking a longer-term view of the veto. SCHIP is just the first of many expansions the President has promised to veto, in the name of holding the line on federal spending. And the GOP has a point: This veto is about children's health care, Democrats say, but after half a dozen, the story line breaks down into Congress and the White House facing off over faceless spending programs.

That strategy fits in with Congressional Republicans' new tactic of painting Democrats as the driving force behind the Washington status quo. After a close special election race this week in which a Republican came close to knocking off a heavily-favored Democrat, the GOP thinks making the point that Democrats now run Congress can be a political winner for them. With Congress' approval ratings in the dumps, they may be right.

But to pull off that feat, the Republicans will have to endure significant short-term grief. Every day SCHIP remains in the news, Democrats believe - and the polls suggest - they benefit at the expense of Republicans.