Walker Wins

Morry Gash/APWisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker (right) 
celebrates his win over Democratic challenger Tom Barrett 
at Tuesday night's victory party in Waukesha, Wis.

Dear Wisconsin Democrat friends, I've got some words to share with you. You probably already know what I'm going to say. I'm sure there are a lot of other people who have a mouth full ready to shove it into your ear canal. Let me patiently stand in line and give you a couple pointers. The rest of you might want to listen in, it affects you too -- you just don't know it yet.

First up, if you're going to do a recall, you better have a winner up against your incombent that you didn't beat in the previous election. Didn't you have a wrestler or a strongman to run? See also Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Gov. Gray Davis. So to drive the point further, it would have been wise not to run the same guy who lost in 2010 to your advisory against him again in the recall. It's why Gore didn't run against W in 2004. No, it was much wiser to run longfaced John Kerry....

Two - You really just hosed all of the Public Sector Unions. You've now validated Walker's approach, and you just did the exact opposite of what a Union is supposed to do - help the cause through solidarity. Well, maybe you helped the taxpayers by losing -- but you certainly didn't help your cause, nor your negotiating ability. You may have even brought forth the question of whether Unions will survive the rest of the 21st Century. Too far fetched? You and I won't be here to see Venus transit across the face of the sun again, and I somehow doubt your membership drive is going to see an uptick again in my lifetime as well.

Three - Expect concessions to start... across the nation. Even in Illinois, there was "talk" about austerity - don't worry, they didn't act on it. Heavens no. It's almost making me chuckle. No, but other states that handed out fat pension deals and free healthcare to State employees will soon be taking a pick axe to those promises. And then expect private Unions to start losing ground. Across the board. Yes, Wisconsin is going to be the first of the Dominios to fall. There are 49 right behind it.

Four - You just put Wisconsin in play for the General. Obama counted on the dark blueness of Wisconsin about as cavalierly as he did the Greece-like-State of Illinois that he hails from. That dark vein is now kind of pink. It's no longer a sure thing. Expect massive amounts of dollars and some presidential visits to Green Bay before November. I would even put the over/under of Obama wearing a Pack jersey before the General at about dead even. Nah, who am I kidding? You and I both know it'll be the Blaspheme's banner for November.

Five - If the primaries and the 'selection' of Mitt was like a bad fishing trip, that's all over now for the Conservatives. It's Disneyland now for the hardliners. Their "fringe guy", the one with the guts to try hard-core conservative governing - and created results, without raising taxes - and then survived an angry recall vote - just won. And won big. All the whining about the GOP needing to be more centrist will be silenced about ... hold on... now. George Will, quit whimpering. Okay. Now the platform has been presented. The path to success has been laid out for them. Now they have the precedent to step on it. And they will. And after a couple of careful tiptoes in wingtips, they'll have themselves an old fashioned ho-down.

Six - Big money in elections are here to stay. So much money poured into this election, most of it out-of-Wisconsin cash, and it got returns. Big lines at the ballot box, and big wins for the 'investors.' Actual results? An exact re-showing for the numbers (almost identical) from the 2010 governor's race. But I am impressed of the 85% participation, no matter how you voted.

Seven - If you wanted Walker to disappear, you blew it. Expect him to be running for President sooner than later. He'll be doing speeches at the NRA, the GOP convention, I'd even expect him to be running some kind of committee or fundraising entity before too long.  Now he's the Republican Superman. And you just created him.

Have a super day.