When Thursday started, it looked like it was going to be a big day for Democrats, as they would be able to check the boxes on some big legislation, giving themselves a big sendoff before a week-long break.  Then reality on the budget deficit set in.

Democrats in the House had plans to quickly act on a bill that featured an extension of jobless benefits.  But moderate Democrats balked at the cost of the plan and how much it would add to the deficit.

You can read more about all that in my other "Deficit" blog today.

Meanwhile, there was also trouble in the House Appropriations Committee, where the panel suddenly postponed work until June on an Afghan War funding bill.

The Senate approved its own version on Thursday night, a $58.8 billion measure.

House Democrats were thinking even bigger, with a price tag of almost $84 billion.

But a strange thing happened on the way to the committee markup, as top Democrats decided to delay for a few weeks, amid worries that some Democrats might vote against their party on certain spending amendments.

The action on Thursday most certainly shows that some Democrats are already very spooked by the idea of voting for bills that spend more money.

It may put even more heat on Democratic leaders to shield their rank-in-file from tough votes this year, one reason that many don't expect the House and Senate to even consider the usual one dozen spending bills that fund the government for the next fiscal year.

Don't get me wrong - Democrats haven't had a religious conversion on deficits or anything like that.  But it's clear they are paying attention.

In the Senate yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) offered up two different amendments to pay for an almost $60 billion Afghan war funding measure, and got way more votes than the Oklahoma Republican usually gets.

His amendments received 45 and 47 votes - an almost unheard of number, because many Republicans usually vote no and then cut their deals with Democratic lawmakers.

The election winds are blowing.