No matter which way that things go in Wisconsin in the short-term, the writing is certainly on the wall for the increasingly hapless-looking Republican governor Scott Walker and probably his GOP buddies in the statehouse as well. And what nasty graffiti it is. Walker has to be one of the most tone-deaf politicians of this generation (which is saying a lot) and he’s leading his GOP troops right off a cliff. Of ALL the places to take on unions… Wisconsin? Good lord, what an idiotic decision that was, even if Walker did get to pretend for one brief (very brief) “shining moment” that he was the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan busting the unions…

No one can take that away from him. But his job can be taken away and I’d wager the odds are that it will happen. Very few people hated Gray Davis in California—we found him incompetent—can the same be said of Wisconsin’s opinion of Walker? It was political suicide for him to step on the tails of so many badgers. Walker can—and probably will—be recalled by Wisconsin voters who are already sick of his stupid Republican face after just a matter of weeks. He has to be in office for one year before that can legally happen, but I should think that gives angry Wisconsinites plenty of time to organize his political demise.

From The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

With recall drives being threatened on both sides, this report by a Democratic targeting expert argues that both Gov. Walker and GOP state lawmakers are vulnerable to recall challenges because of the intensity of feeling among opponents to Walker’s budget proposals.

It was done by Wisconsin’s Ken Strasma, who did micro-targeting for the 2008 Obama campaign, and concludes that among people who dislike what Walker is doing, “very large numbers are willing to take some action about it,” said Strasma in an interview.

The obvious cautionary notes: Strasma works for Democratic and progressive clients (he said he did this survey and analysis on his own, not for a client).  For either side planning recall campaigns, the threshold for signatures is very high in Wisconsin (25% of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election).  And no recalls can occur before a year has passed from the time the targeted official was elected.

If I lived there, I’d be standing in the Rite Aid parking lot with a clipboard every weekend myself. I’ll say it again: This is one of the biggest, most important developments in American civic life in DECADES. If you don’t understand why, you aren’t paying enough attention.