Wisconsin loses

Two Republican state senators lost their seats in recall elections around Wisconsin on Tuesday, but Republicans maintained their control of the State Senate, ultimately handing a defeat to union groups and Democrats who had spent months and millions of dollars trying to wrestle away at least some of the state’s political power.

The outcome was seen as a victory for Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican whose move to curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers this year set off a firestorm of protests, then counterprotests and finally a summer of unprecedented recall efforts.

Although two of the Republicans — Senators Dan Kapanke of La Crosse and Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac — were removed by Democratic challengers on Tuesday before the ends of their terms in office, Republicans still hold a majority — now 17 to 16 — over Democrats in the Senate. ...NYT

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... The recalls of the six Republican senators all played out on conservative turf, in historically Republican districts. The uphill runs were made more difficult by the fact that national groups funded by conservative billionaires such as Charles and David Koch poured money into television advertising on behalf of the incumbents as part of what has been called the first "Citizen's United Campaign. (That's a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed traditional limits on campaigning by corporations and wealthy individuals.) Watchdog groups predicted that spending in the Wisconsin contests could exceed $40 million.
 
Against those odds, it is more than merely notable that Democrats were able to dramatically narrow the Republican majority in the Senate, from a comfortable 19-14 margin to a razor-thin 17-16. difference.That one-vote GOP majority becomes significant from an organizational and policy standpoint. That's because one Republican senator, Dale Schultz, voted against the governor's assault on collective bargaining -- which he referred to as "collosal overreach." Schultz has been highly critical of the governor in recent weeks, and the extent to which he decided to work with the Democrats could tip the balance on labor, education and public services issues where the moderate Schultz has differed with his fellow Republicans.
 
That prospect unsettles Republicans and their special-interest allies, who poured tens of millions of dollars into an effort to defend the incumbents who sided with Walker. Next Tuesday, Republicans will mount challenges to a pair of Democratic senators, Jim Holperin in the northern part of the state and Bob Wirch in the southern part. Because of the uncertainty about the role Schultz will play, Republicans will work hard to displace at least one of the two Democrats -- with Holperin being aggressively targeted by a Tea Party candidate, Kim Simac, who has drawn raves from Glenn Beck. ...John Nichols, Nation