Dear Commons Community,

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker will become the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election, media outlets projected on Tuesday, a setback for labor unions and a boost to Republican hopes in November’s presidential election.  Major networks projected Walker would be the winner about an hour after the polls closed in Wisconsin in the divisive election that left families at odds and neighbors not speaking to each over Walker’s push to curtail collective bargaining by public sector workers.  Republicans were also leading in the four state senator elections being contested as part of the recall election.  The BBC reported:

“With 87% of votes counted in a rare recall election, Walker had 54% compared to 45% for Democratic challenger Tom Barrett, who admitted defeat.”

A BBC reporter made the following observations:

“The lopsided campaign spending – 7-to-1 in favour of the Republicans – was peculiar to this race. The passion was peculiar to the politics that Scott Walker introduced in 2010.

But Republicans will be delighted by the result and Democrats will be downcast.

Wisconsin has been Democratic territory since Ronald Reagan left office. Now it cannot be taken for granted by the Obama campaign.

Momentum is important in politics, and Wisconsin’s Republican have the wind in their sails.

The recall election was a shot not just across Scott Walker’s bows but also those of like-minded Republican governors. It missed, and the US labor movement must wonder what comes next.”

Tony

London, England