The Weekly Sift

[8/15/2011] Democrats fell just short of taking the Wisconsin state senate in the recall elections last Tuesday, picking up two Republican seats when they needed three (and once again falling short in a cliff-hanger due to late-breaking votes from Waukesha County). The two last recall elections (both with incumbent Democrats) happen tomorrow.

Republicans tried to spin this as victory, and the national media largely went along. But the only senators eligible for recall were those elected in 2008, a Democratic year. And if Democrats gain two seats over the 2008 results (assuming they hold their two seats tomorrow), it’s hard to see that as defeat.

So what happens next? The recall of Governor Walker, who is so unpopular he did not campaign in the senate recall elections, will likely still happen when he becomes recall-eligible in January. But the next big test of the ALEC agenda is in Ohio.

Ohio’s SB 5 is the same public-union-busting effort that started the trouble in Wisconsin. Opponents collected a huge number of signatures to get an overturn-SB-5 referendum on the ballot for November. This election will draw the same avalanche of anonymous corporate cash that went into Wisconsin, but so far the polls look good.