Following Democrat Al Franken's victory in the disputed U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, the Republican Party plans to pursue a two-pronged strategy, seeking to pull moderate Democrats away from President Obama on key votes and blaming Democrats for the results of any policy failure in Washington. The Franken victory had been long anticipated by both parties, and the practical implications could be limited. While the Democrats now have 60 senators, theoretically allowing them to pass bills without any Republican votes, the frequent absences of ailing Sens. Edward Kennedy (Mass.) and Robert Byrd (W.Va.) mean the Democrats still need the support of a few Republicans to get legislation through Congress. But the Republicans now find themselves with their smallest minority since 1978 and, facing a popular president and large Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House, effectively unable to pass even amendments to bills without some Democratic backing. 'I can say without hesitation that this government is totally theirs now and everything that comes out of it and everything that results from it is on their plate,' said Republication National Committee chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.' Sen John Cornyn, R-Tex., head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said of the Democrats, 'with their supermajority, the era of excuses and finger-pointing is now over.' Congressional Democrats have congratulated Franken, but played down the implications of an enlarged majority. Increasingly, legislative battles are likely to be fought between factions within the Democratic Party rather than between the two parties. The liberal groups MoveOn.org, Democracy for America and Change Congress yesterday started airing an ad in Louisiana attacking Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., for refusing to support a so-called public option that would create a government-run health insurance program to compete with private insurance companies, some of whom have contributed to her campaigns. Republican strategists say that when they try to block or change legislation, they will target more conservative Democrats such as Landrieu, Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., hoping to woo a handful of Democrats and break the party's unity. The approach will be to publicly attack Democratic ideas until they are so unpopular in relatively conservative states that members like Landrieu can't back them. This tactic worked effectively when Republicans won a vote in the Senate that stripped funding to implement Obama's plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. 'The goal is try to affect the end result knowing they have the votes from Day One,' said a top GOP Senate aide who was not authorized to speak publicly about tactics. 