Wisconsin Recall Update

We have a few hard numbers now on the Wisconsin recall races and, while the news is good, it's not anything we didn't already know. Jmartin4s at DailyKos got hold of some polling from Insider Michigan Politics which finds that Democrats are clear leaders in three races that they're widely expected to win. What's telling here is just how large those leads are:

State Senate District 12-Incumbent Jim Holperin (D)
46.3% Simac (R) 53.7% Holperin (D)
State Senate District 18-Incumbent Randy Hopper (R)
45.3% Hopper (R) 54.7% King (D)
State Senate District 32-Incumbent Dan Kapanke (R)
43.0% Kapanke (R) 57.0% Shilling (D)

Two strong wins and one landslide. One Republican incumbent who was expected to win finds herself in a much tighter race than anyone had expected. Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling recently told constituents she couldn't guarantee she'd be reelected. Asked at a Q & A if she was sure she'd win, Darling answered, "I'm not sure. It's going to be about turnout."

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Right Getting More and More Desperate

This morning, I woke up to a headline in the Wall Street Journal that read, "Democrats to End Union Standoff." I was a little disappointed -- until I read the article. Turns out there was nothing in there that justified the headline. The whole thing seems to have stemmed from this sentence:

In a letter sent Monday, Mr. Miller asked Messrs. Walker and Fitzgerald for an in-person meeting somewhere near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

That'd be state senate minority leader Mark Miller, Governor Walker, and senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald. That Democrats would look at current polling and think that they ought to strike while the iron is hot is hardly surprising. And the fact that Miller wants to meet near the border suggests that -- contrary to the sensationalist headline -- Miller doesn't plan on leaving Illinois.

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Wisconsin Republicans Rush to Wait

Here's the message we can take out of Madison, Wisconsin today; Republicans are terrified. In the State Assembly, the GOP resorted to dirty tricks (again) to force through Gov. Walker's hopelessly corrupt "budget repair" bill.

Talking Points Memo:

After much buildup in the 61-hour debate -- of Republicans wanting things to be over, and Democrats railing against Republicans who they said would cut off debate -- at about 1 AM Speaker Pro Tempore Bill Kramer (R) announced that he would hear a voice vote for a roll call on final passage. Immediately, the majority Republicans shouted their ayes, and the Democrats were booing, as they tried to be recognized to demand a separate motion to cut off debate.

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