Now that President Obama has signed the stimulus bill, the real free-for-all begins – both financial and political.

The most popular people in Raleigh today are Dempsey Benton and Gene Conti. As DOT secretary, Conti has road money to spend. As Governor Perdue’s stimulus czar, Benton will oversee the rest of the windfall from Washington.

Question: How long will it take the legislature to try to take control of that money? So far, legislators have been talking about cutting programs and laying off people. That’s no fun. Deciding who gets more money is a lot more fun. Why should the executive branch get all the fun?

The other spectator sport will be watching who wins and who loses politically from the stimulus battle.

Early polls indicate the stimulus battle helped congressional Democrats and hurt Republicans. The GOP leaders apparently mistook the talk-radio echo chamber for the voice of the people. And Obama’s numbers stayed high despite the Republican howling and media second-guessing.

Republicans today remind me of Democrats during the Age of Reagan. Democrats hated what he was doing and, most of all, they hated that the public liked what he was doing. That’s how Reagan was able to split the Democrats.

Obama has split the Republicans – not so much in Washington, but between the congressional wing and the governors’ wing of the party. More than 20 Republican governors – most notably the human opinion poll, Charlie Crist – supported Obama on the stimulus.

That, again, reminds me of Democrats in the 80s. Washington Democrats railed against Reagan, while Democratic governors (like Jim Hunt and Bill Clinton) found ways to live with him.

But the volatility of economic issues – and the wobbliness of the economy – means that nothing is certain or permanent.

The only sure thing is there will be winners and losers in the scramble for federal dollars. And it will not be pretty.

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