Reply #4: the vice president oversees procedural matters

[IChing]

Under the original code of Senate rules,
the presiding officer exercised great power
over the conduct of the body's proceedings.

Rule XVI provided that "every question of order shall be
decided by the President of the Senate, without debate;
but if there be a doubt in his mind, he may call for a
sense of the Senate."

Thus, contrary to later practice,
the presiding officer was the sole judge of proper procedure
and his rulings could not be turned aside by the full Senate without his assent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States


http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm