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For weeks, Democratic leaders gritted their teeth whenever Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell airily dismissed suggestions that Republicans would work to slow the health care debate.

To Democrats, out-strategizing Kentuckys senior senator is serious business. McConnell ostensibly could derail President Barack Obamas top domestic policy priority.

The Democrats thought they knew better. Under McConnells leadership during the 111th Congress , Republicans have attempted to filibuster - block legislation by defeating efforts to cut off debate - more than 30 times.

A clue to how McConnell intends to handle this balancing act came Wednesday, when New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg sent Republican colleagues a memo on parliamentary strategy they could use to offer amendments and extend debate. Democrats quickly labeled the letter an “obstructionist playbook” and pointed to the Kentucky lawmaker as the brainpower behind Republican stall tactics.

After all, McConnell, a lawmaker whose skill as a parliamentary tactician has long earned him begrudging nods of respect from across the aisle, has a lot riding on the health care debate. As the titular head of a dwindled caucus, he has the difficult task of navigating his party through the Obama administrations historic health care overhaul while ensuring that the GOP isnt steamrolled in the process.

“I think its clearly not the case that the Republicans want to delay a process that weve only now gotten an opportunity to participate in, since this has been a strictly partisan adventure from the beginning, McConnell said, at one point stifling a chuckle. “But well have an opportunity over a number of weeks to offer amendments.”

McConnell and Gregg waved off the criticism and feigned confusion about the Democrats pique over the GOPs “innocuous” guidance to party members during a tongue-in-cheek exchange Thursday on the Senate floor.

This year, Republicans tried to block efforts to force a vote on a tobacco regulation bill that allows the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the cigarette industry, and on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expanded workers rights to sue in cases of pay discrimination, among other pieces of legislation.

If McConnells history of having filibustered hundreds of measures over the years and the GOPs voting pattern in the 111th Congress are any indications of what to expect during the health care debate, Kentuckys senior senator will use every weapon in his arsenal to draw out the process as long as possible.

“Well, Senator McConnells spokesman laid it out pretty well a couple of weeks ago when he spoke about simple extension of employment insurance,” said Reids spokesman, Jim Manley . “He said were at war and sometimes you have to take prisoners. Its one of the most disgraceful statements Ive heard in a long time, and it aptly describes their approach to health care.”

Three weeks before Christmas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reids office says theres little willingness on either side to negotiate agreements on health care, and the Nevada lawmaker would indicate only “soon” when he was asked when he might call for a final vote. The Senate took up the first four amendments Thursday on the more than 2,000-page bill, with numerous others to follow.

Already, the Senate rejected on a largely party-line vote Arizona Republican Sen. John McCains amendment to recommit the health care measure to the Senate Finance Committee to remove more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts. The amendment would have hobbled the Democrats plans to help pay for expanded coverage through those cuts.

“Its a delicate line to walk where youre trying to rally all of your troops to kill the legislation,” said Norm Ornstein , a veteran political analyst and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative policy-research center in Washington . “Youre also tempted to use every parliamentary trick to kill it even as you try to amend it.”

Then there are all sorts of other possibilities, including reading amendments or even the whole bill word for word, a tactic McConnell employed during last years debate over global warming legislation, when he brought the proceedings to a standstill after calling for all 492 pages of the bill to be read aloud.

One method McConnell could employ is to look at the kinds of amendments Democrats are going to offer, especially those that moderate Democrats draft, to see which measures Republicans could support, either because theyre poison pills that could kill the legislation or because theyre worth backing, Ornstein said. Theres also the option of adding amendments on illegal immigration, abortion or guns, explosive issues that could attract moderate Democrats who are skittish about the health care overhaul.

“I dont see the public responding to that (offering numerous amendments). You would have to have very good amendments,” said Curtis Gans , the director of American Universitys Center for the Study of the American Electorate . “There will be a health care bill, and I dont think hes going to be able to block it.”

However, such gambits could backfire, in terms of public perception and by galvanizing the Senates Democratic leaders.