Will Wisconsin Become A Missed Opportunity?

Today the 18 month battle to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will finally be decided. While most polls had Walker ahead of his Democratic challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker has never gone above 50%, and the latest poll has the race a statistical dead heat. The recall juggernaut was prompted by Walker's "Divide and Conquer" strategy to destroy the states unions, collective bargaining power, and ultimately make Wisconsin a "right to work" state. Don't just take my word for it, see for yourself straight from Walker's own mouth.

After a long battle by Democratic state legislators who left the state to prevent Walker's agenda from being put in place, when they finally returned, Republicans in the state assembly rammed the bill home, in what some would call a cowardly procedural farce. Again, see for yourself.



The result, an immediate cry for Walker and several other Republican state legislators to go. In an earlier recall measure,  3 out of 3 state Democrats held their seats, while 2 out of 6 Republicans lost theirs. More Republican legislators are potentially on the chopping block today, as well as, Walker's Lieutenant Governor.

In what many are calling a watershed moment for labor in this country, has 2 basic outcomes. 1) The further destruction of organized labor, not just as a hit for unions in general, but more importantly to diminish a major money stream for Democrats, including the President. 2) A red light for a nationwide Republican effort to undermine organized labor, and a message that this kind of political over reach will not be tolerated my the middle class, who continues to get squeezed under Republican policies.

Republicans know how high the stakes are in Wisconsin, and have poured millions of dollars into the Walker campaign in order to keep their national agenda alive. Walker has outspent Barrett 7 to 1 in advertising and attack ads. 30 million dollars of Walker's war chest coming from donors out of the state. Walker's biggest donors include Texas homebuilding king and Swift Boat for Veterans backer Bob Perry, Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, and Richard DeVos, heir to Amway fortune. A little more than $1 of every $10 given to Barrett was out-of-state campaign cash.

Where are the Presidential Candidates? No where to be found? Both President Obama who sent an 11th hour tweet last night endorsing Barrett, and Mitt Romney have steered clear of Wisconsin, each no doubt awaiting the outcome, so they can ride in and support which ever mandate prevails. The crime here is once again through money, and lots of it, Republicans are on their way to buying what they hope will be one in a long line of elections. If Barrett goes down tonight, the Democratic leadership who avoided this race like the plague, will take a long hard look in the mirror and have no one to blame but themselves. Walker rallied Governors from all over the country, big money donors and corporations hostile to labor, and was backed by the party apparatus to drive it all home. If Democrat Tom Barrett loses tonight, it will be a mandate to other Republican Governors to keep the trend going. If he wins, Democrats will have drawn a line in the sand that says go no farther. So will it become a squandered opportunity, or a first step in curbing Republican plans for the nation? In 24 hours we should know the answer.