Why Wisconsin Matters

The Wisconsin recall effort is over, and the Left is scrambling to put the best possible spin on their failure to unseat Scott Walker. Naturally, they're pretending the whole thing never happened, but for those of us in the real world, it happened. To my friends on the Left, I offer the following reasons why the Wisconsin recall effort matters on a bigger scale.

The exit polls were wrong...AGAIN! To hear the commentators on MSNBC (including woman-hater Ed Schultz) speak of the recall election, it was going to be tight. And in the end, the only things tight were the throats of the MSNBC folks as they choked back tears and more than a little crow announcing Scott Walker had won. When the media do exit polling, they tend to stay in friendly territory as to support their preconceived narrative. This time, just like in 2000 when the media relied on exit polling and screwed up,the polls were wrong, and so was their coverage.

Union power in political matters is waning. The unions used to be a powerful political force in elections, especially for Democrats. However, as their relevance to actual work has waned, so has their effectiveness in achieving political ends. When the unions starting gunning for Scott Walker last year, they were fired up and ready to storm the Cheesehead Bastille. They faced a problem, though: time. Because of the steps necessary to recall a sitting Governor, the unions had to wait. As time went on, their presence waned to the point only people in Wisconsin knew there was even a recall effort going on. When push came to shove, the union efforts failed. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Democrats may cede elections they can't win. Something missing from the recall effort was the presence of Democrat support, especially monetarily. Say what you will about the amount of money Walker raised as compared to his opponent Tom Barrett, but the fact remains the Democratic National Committee didn't see the recall election as that important (even after saying it was very important when Walker's favorability ratings were in the tank). In an effort to try to spin it, Democrats are saying it was just a statewide election with no impact on the larger political battleground. Perhaps the reason they felt that way is because they didn't want to spend money on a losing cause in favor of saving their pennies to try to save their favorite losing cause, Obama/Biden 2012.

This is what democracy looks like? Not so much. The anti-Walker chanters from last year must be scratching their heads at how they could have lost. Either that, or it's the head lice. What they missed out on was the fact democracy isn't standing up, chanting stupid slogans, and making asses of yourselves. To truly enact change, you have to act on it. The recall effort failed in large part because the chanters became a nuisance instead of a sympathetic group willing to take action beyond signing a petition and heckling politicians. On the plus side, though, you had the "pathetic" part down pat. But don't be sad. Soon you'll have a bunch of Astroturf Wall Street folks joining you Lotta-Pa-Losers.

The TEA Party isn't dead. Some of Walker's most strident supporters were members of the TEA Party. They may not have had the media coverage for the sheer body count of the anti-Walker forces, but they made their mark in small ways (such as cleaning up the Capitol after anti-Walker cretins made a mess of the place) and in big ways (like cleaning up the Leftist scum by kicking Barrett to the curb for a second time in two elections). Just because a movement is dormant for a time doesn't mean it's dead. It could be waiting for the next moment to make an impact on the country.

There may be more states in play for Republicans in November. Wisconsin has been a Democrat stronghold for a while, as have many states in the Upper Midwest. This is mainly because of the strong union base in these states. With labor's unimpressive showing in Wisconsin, this may be a turning point for Republicans because union members may not be willing to back the union ticket this time. If other states follow suit, there are a lot of Democrat strongholds that could be toss-ups. Here are a few of them:

• Iowa
• Ohio
• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia
• Minnesota

Although Pennsylvania and West Virginia aren't in the Upper Midwest and Iowa is in more of the central Midwest, all share characteristics with Wisconsin with respect to the working classes in each state. If a worker's revolt happens in even three of these states, Democrats could be looking at a washout in November.

Leftists are starting to see Obama's lack of leadership. One of the post-recall comments made by the Left was Obama should have campaigned for Barrett. (Not that it would have helped...)  This may be a sign the Left has finally seen Obama as a weak leader that doesn't inspire confidence in his followers. If this trend continues, the Left may not come out to vote, which makes the aforementioned states even more important and could tighten some of the races in other vital states, such as Florida. That doesn't bode well for Obama's reelection chances.

If the Left wants to disregard the results of the Wisconsin recall election, they do so at their own political peril. It's not nearly as insignificant as they think it is.