I am anxiously awaiting the results from today's state senate recall races in Wisconsin. I think that these races could prove to be incredibly important in a variety of ways.
First, it is a chance for organized labor to show that it can still punish its enemies. And make no mistake, this is crucial to the survival of public employee unions throughout much of the United States. If some asshole like Scott Walker can deprive these state employees of collective bargaining rights and suffer no adverse consequences, it is only a matter of time before public employee unions are just as endangered as their private sector counterparts.
Second, the Democratic Party in Wisconsin rallied to the cause of these workers. They made an unabashed cause of protecting collective bargaining. It would be nice to see such unambiguous support translate into electoral victory. It might help Democrats actually learn the right lessons, while at the same time driving home to public employees -- often an inconstant constituency, especially in the police and fire fighting services -- who has their interests at heart.
And finally, it would be an important slap in the face to right wing Republicans. A political party will only change its stripes in the event of sustained electoral defeat. The Republican Party absorbed brutal defeats in 2006 and 2008. The lesson it took from those losses was that George Bush was unpopular -- hence George Bush was not really a conservative (since America is a conservative country) -- and that he was unpopular for deviating from right-wing orthodoxy. The GOP doubled down on an extreme right wing ideology and won a smashing triumph in the 2010 elections. This tendency can only be curbed by a series of electoral losses. Having multiple state senators recalled in a single election would be a beginning on this front.
Let's keep our fingers crossed. And hope we pick up at least three seats tonight.
Update: Ugh. The numbers as of 10:00 look like crap. Damn.
Further Update at 10:30: Slightly better, but likely to be disappointing. We've lost two of six, but are now leading in three -- one by just a handful of votes. I don't have enough sense of where the votes are yet. Waiting for a kos update.
Hmmm: kos gives some hope. The Dems look like they have two in hand and kos is predicting a narrow win by the currently trailing Dem in the 18th. Please, please, please.
Damn, damn, damn - I did not understand the vote coming in in the 8th District. What I thought was a pretty comfortable lead for Democrat Sandy Pasch is unraveling fast. kos seems to think it might be a lost cause.
It's tight: Dems do pick up the 18th as kos predicted after winning handily in the 32nd. It all comes down to the 8th where the returns are maddeningly slow being reported. Dem Pasch leads narrowly with 67% of the vote reported.
