Opening Day at the General Assembly can be a lot like Opening Day at Fenway Park. But not this year. A ballpark offers optimism. At the State House, awash in red ink, there’s depression.

At Tuesday’s Assembly opener, House Finance Committee Chairman Steven Costantino told me, “I’d hate to quote the trials of Job right now, but I think that’s how I feel sometimes.”

At the ballpark, they give you a magnetic schedule for your refrigerator. You don’t get that at the Assembly, but I urge you to clip and save the statesmanlike comments in speeches by House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Joseph Montalbano. These Democrats pledged that the two chambers will work together — and with Republican Governor Carcieri.

Murphy: “The time for finger pointing is over.”

Montalbano: “It is critically important that we work together.”

Murphy told me, “People do want to see us work together.” Indeed. But, in the State House, bickering is akin to breathing.

Opening Day is a time to renew acquaintances not only with lawmakers but also their aides.

There was Patrick Callahan, 57, once a Journal copy boy, now a 20-year capitol veteran. He operates the House’s electronic voting system, and he likes the gig. “It’s politics; isn’t that always interesting?” he says.

There was Margaret Forbes, who helps run the Assembly’s bill-drafting office. Now 49, she’s been a State House regular since starting as a Senate page in 1977. She’s been a lobbyist and served as chief of staff to former Senate President William Irons. Forbes loves the place. “It’s beautiful, historic … There’s always something going on.”

Two reps who won special elections were on hand; spouses beamed. Tony Caparco, married to Warwick Democrat Frank Ferri, said, “I’m excited for him … I’m looking forward to being part of the process, a visible couple.”

You can be sure Mary Coaty, married to Newport Republican Steven Coaty, noticed the pages. She and he first crossed paths as pages in the Wisconsin legislature. She said public service has been his longtime dream. “Steve has had it in his heart since the day I met him,” she said.

Most lobbyists took New Year’s off, but there was the Rev. Bernard Healey of the Catholic diocese, assessing the budget battles ahead: “The church is the voice of the voiceless … We want to make sure that the poor and the needy and the least among us are taken care of.”

Interestingly, Senator Montalbano’s speech quoted Hubert Humphrey’s plea to care for the sick, the needy and the handicapped. Montalbano told me that, sure, the budget must be balanced and there’ll be pain to spread. “But I really feel strongly that as Democrats we stand for not taking the most vulnerable in our society and eliminating whatever safety net we can provide.”

I want to see what the ruling Democrats come up with — and how they do it. In the House, Majority Leader Gordon Fox was right to tell members that the 2008 session, with its fiscal challenges, might be a defining test. But it was unsettling to talk with him later. Fox said he can see the chamber’s Democrats relying more on informal caucuses to thrash out “what does it mean to be a Democrat, what are the kind of steps that this General Assembly wants to stand for.”

Fox said the sessions may be closed to the media. He said he believes in openness but that, in such a setting, “Some people don’t express themselves as honestly and forthrightly.”

Oh please. Then they shouldn’t be in the legislature.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal’s political columnist.

mbakst@projo.com