The Greens were understandably downcast over events in the US. Trevor Sargent was reduced to hoping that a re-elected President Bush might find time to read Al Gore's Earth in the Balance "for old time's sake".
But he didn't sound optimistic. Advising the Taoiseach to expect four more years of a man who was "in denial" about global climate change, he hinted that Mr Ahern might need his famous wellies again soon.
The Taoiseach wasn't so sure. Whatever about the earth, the state of Ohio remained officially in the balance, and Bertie Ahern was not making any assumptions.
He hoped "whoever is in the White House" would take a "more enlightened" view of the Kyoto Protocol.
But Ireland was already doing its bit, with a climate change strategy that included plans "to purchase emissions allowances as a supplementary measure to emissions reduction".
Or as Eamon Ryan translated: "He means we're going to buy our way out of it." Until recently, the nearest Fianna Fáil leaders had to a climate change strategy was the ability to know which way the wind was blowing at all times, and react accordingly.
But yesterday Mr Ahern refused even to stick his finger up and check the breeze from Washington.
"I have no comment to make on the US election," he said. "I'm sure we'll hear the result in due course."
There was dramatic evidence, meanwhile, that the Greens now have a costume change strategy too. Emboldened by his courageous stance against tie wearing, Paul Gogarty pushed the parameters further with an ensemble that rivalled the Taoiseach's yellow trousers in its flamboyance. A blue suit with oriental-style tunic and flowing linen shirt, it made the young TD look like a cross between a singer in a boy-band and an Indian waiter.
Reaction in the house was mixed. Labour's Emmet Stagg was clearly amused, but Liz O'Donnell (PD) studied the outfit with an expression that suggested she was in a lot of pain. If Mr Gogarty's suit were a piece of legislation, you sensed, Liz would be tabling a long series of amendments. The jacket was mid-thigh length, incidentally. So in this respect at least, it marked a new low in Irish politics.
Elsewhere on the agenda, the Luas controversy dragged on. Like the American people, the red-and-green lines remain hopelessly divided, and Martin Cullen's proposal to heal the rift via a €70 million overground link attracted scepticism from Pat Rabbitte. Mary O'Rourke had ruled out such a link as minister, he said: "If it was wrong in 1998, why is it right in 2004?" There was no getting away from the US, however, as Mr Sargent equated a Bush second term with the likelihood of rising flood levels in Ireland. If the US president continued to be in denial, he implied, the Taoiseach would continue to be in detolka.
The Greens' mood was as apocalyptic as a 1960s protest song. It would have been no surprise if Paul Gogarty had produced a guitar and led the house in a chorus of The Climes They Are a-Changin.