Wisconsin recall

When unions and other elements of the Democratic Party base swarmed the Wisconsin Capitol earlier this year, their rallying cry against the common-sense collective bargaining reforms sought by Republican Gov. Scott Walker was, "This is what democracy looks like."

Those same signs and banners inadvertently summed up Tuesday's recall elections for Republican state senators who supported Gov. Walker's budget-balancing agenda. Only two of six GOP lawmakers were recalled, allowing Republicans to preserve a 17-16 majority in Wisconsin's upper chamber.

Given the resources expended by these reactionary "progressives" -- they spent tens of millions of dollars circulating recall petitions, hounding targeted Republicans, advertising against the GOP and getting out the vote -- it was a devastating loss for Democrats and unions. They saw these elections as an opportunity to create momentum for next year's national campaign against the tea-party-led paring back of taxes, regulations, and top-heavy, privileged bureaucracies. Now they must regroup to hold onto their small gain, as two Democratic senators who fled to Illinois to prevent a vote on Gov. Walker's reforms face their own recall elections later this month.

As it turned out, conservatives were every bit as energized as liberal agitators, and they voted in numbers Democrats didn't expect -- overall turnout was more than 43 percent.

If union scare tactics, higher taxes and ever-richer public employee salaries and benefits didn't sell in liberal Wisconsin, they won't play well in other recession-scarred states.

"Voters told us loud and clear, 'Stay the course. Things are working,'" GOP activist John Hogan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Indeed, this is what democracy looks like.