Don't Tread On Wisconsin, Walker

Wisconsin is holding a recall election today for the seats of 6 Republican State Senators who were petitioned, by their constituents (signatures gathered), to be recalled.  "The Ed Show" on MSNBC last night was broadcasting from Madison to cover it.  I normally don't like Ed Schultz as he is just too angry, too outraged, too hyperbolic for my rational tastes - sort of MSNBC's version of a hybrid Hannity (self righteous) /O'Falafel (smug indignation), with a touch of Beck (craziness) thrown in, but it seemed to me last night, as I watched Schultz's toss with Rachel Maddow, that Ed was almost ready to cry / shed a tear when Rachel asked him "what if the Progressives don't prevail?"  As if Ed had not wanted to imagine that possibility, or even consider it.

But it has to be considered.  Wisconsin is a swing state, sometimes blue, sometimes red.  Governor Walker and his corporate patrons have spat in the face of normal, hard working, lower and middle income Wisconsin citizens, perhaps just once too many times.  The Koch brothers and their super PAC plutocratic brethren have funded a WHOPPING $40 million dollars into this little recall election.  That is 10X more than the entire 2010 Wisconsin general election was funded (at just $4 million, per Maddow).  Forty million dollars, that ten X multiplier, shows that the Republicans are scared of losing their majority.  If they lose the majority, then they'll not be able to abolish collective bargaining, pass tax loop holes for corporations and the richest Wisonsinites, and do all the "favors" that the richest Americans think they are entitled to - they paid for it after all!!!

So Wisconsin, today, will be an actual litmus test to see if
- the Corporately Funded tea baggers get out en masse to vote
- the voting districts that the Republican controlled legislature changed a month ago confuse voters enough
- the closed polling places in democratic strong holds dissuade and aggravate enough voters to not cast ballots (like the Republican party did in Simpsonville in 2000 when it was Bush vs McCain in the primary, and they moved DDF's and my polling place 20 miles to the edge of the county, the DAY OF the election)
- the citizens of Wisconsin are angry enough to throw the bums out who have sold them down the river in favor of corporate interests and tax breaks for the rich.

And depending on how Wisconsin goes... so will Ohio and Michigan possibly follow.  Yes, each state is separate and has its own individual issues and personalities and politicians, but the corporate super PACs that are funding and driving the campaigns and agendas forward are national, or international in some cases.   Il faut voir.