Using gnome-apt as non-root

[Stuart Ballard <stuart@wuffies.net>]

Is it possible to arrange for gnome-apt to be usable by a non-root user?
To run it as root I have to mess about with X authorization and even
once that is done my GTK themes aren't respected. I guess my question
can be broken down as follows (and an answer to either part would be
enough)

1) Is there a way to run programs as root from X, respecting such things
as the current GTK theme; OR

2) Is there a way to enable a regular user to run apt/dpkg/gnome-apt?

Thanks in advance,
Stuart.