Democrats and their union allies failed to take control of the Wisconsin state senate away from Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker last night. Democrats needed to win three out of the six seats up for recall to exact revenge on Walker for his union-busting budget bill. They only took two.
The responses from progressives to their devastating defeat have been down right delusional. Daily Kos‘ Markos Moulitsas wrote: “But let me just say, if tonight was a loss, I hope we have many more such “losses” in 2012. We took the fight into red territory, and took two seats.” This is just plain fantasy.
All six of the seats up for election yesterday voted for President Obama in 2008 and for Walker in 2010. None of them are reliably Republican. They can, at best, be described as swing districts. In fact, one of the two seats the Democrats did manage to win last night, is a reliably Democratic district that gave Obama 61 percent of the vote in 2008 and barely broke for Walker in 2010. The other Republican that Democrats defeated last night was forced to move out of his house after his wife caught him having an affair with an intern.
But the left is undeterred by their huge loss. The New York Times Nate Silver says Democrats “would be silly not proceed with Walker recall based on tonight. The results project to a toss-up if you extrapolate out statewide.” Silver doesn’t seem to grasp that liberals and their union allies have lost all momentum in the state. The truth about Walker’s budget bill is coming out: It is a god send to local governments that is enabling them to balance budgets and save jobs. Just yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Walker’s legislation enabled Milwaukee to save $36 million on health care benefits in 2012 alone. A failed Democratic recall of Walker would expose the deeply partisan and wasteful nature of today’s union-controlled Democratic party and would set Republicans up beautifully for huge 2012 victories in the state.
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Reid Names First Debt-Panel Picks: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named his three choices for the debt limit seal’s Super Congress: Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Max Baucus, D-Mont. Murray, who is also in charge of raising campaign cash for Senate Democrats, will be the committee’s co-chair. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will name the other co-chair.
ABC News, On the Defense Over the Debt Deal, McConnell Says He’s ‘Very Close’ to Super Committee Picks: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., outlined his criteria for selecting members for the Super Congress to a town hall in Owensboro: “I’m putting people on there that I think have high character, great integrity, and can deal with the fact that they are going to be pushed and pulled and lobbied by everyone in this town, including our own colleagues in the Senate.” McConnell also said he would only select people who are “willing to accept something less than the absolute perfect solution.”
The Washington Examiner, White House goes mum on financial crisis: President Obama cancelled a public event in Virginia and the White House cancelled spokesman Jay Carney’s daily press briefing Tuesday, the day after White House statements by Carney and Obama failed to stem the largest market decline since the 2008 financial crisis. “Quite frankly, a lot of us are happy they just shut up,” veteran Republican strategist Mark Corallo told The Examiner. “Clearly, the president’s [Monday] address was a disaster. The markets look for signs of leadership. They didn’t find it.”
The Wall Street Journal, Markets Sink Then Soar After Fed Speaks: Just after the Federal Reserve’s 2:15 p statement, the Dow dropped more than 200 points as investors were discouraged by Fed’s decision not pursue any new policy changes. But the market then rebounded as some seized on language in the statement that the Fed had discussed a “range of policy tools” that it was “prepared to employ.” In the last hour of trading, the Dow shot up 500 points, closing with a net gain of 429 points on the day.
The Washington Post, S&P’s Chambers: Balanced budget amendment would do more harm than good: Standard & Poor’s managing director John Chambers refuted claims that a Balanced Budget Amendment would have prevented his company from downgrading the United States credit rating yesterday. He told CNN: “In general, we think that fiscal rules like these just diminish the flexibility of the government to respond.”
The Los Angeles Times, California tax revenue plummets in July, raising fear of trigger cuts: Just two months into California’s budget and already tax revenue is falling far short of the optimistic projections Gov. Jerry Brown used to justify higher spending. July revenues were $539 million lower than expected, meaning up to $4 billion in assumed tax revenue may never materialize. If the taxes do not magically appear, education programs are slated for cuts.
Campaign 2012
Ames Straw Poll: The Examiner‘s Michael Barone looks at the history of the Iowa Caucuses stretching back to 1972 and the Ames Straw Poll stretching back to 1979.
Cain: Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain will continue his presidential race “no matter what.” Cain also told The Examiner he plans to finish in the top five in Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll.
Perry: Iowa Republicans say they’re confident that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s expected presidential announcement Saturday won’t detract from the Ames Straw Poll. In fact, Perry supporters in Iowa are reminding straw poll participants that can write in Perry’s name for the straw poll.
Righty Playbook
The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack notes that a redistricting bill signed by Walker Tuesday, should help Republicans retain the senate in 2012.
At The Corner, James Capretta says the downgrade was a rebuke that Obama richly deserved: “It happened because, at every crucial juncture over the past two and a half years, the president has cynically put his own political fortunes above what would be best for the country.”
The Examiner‘s Charlie Spiering catches MSNBC’s Al Sharpton flubbing his lines of the teleprompter.
Lefty Playbook
Firedoglake‘s David Dayen details why progressives should be alarmed by Reid’s choices for the Super Congress: Murray and Baucus both signed a letter supporting the Bowles-Simpson plan (which cut Social Security and Medicare) and Kerry also embraced entitlement reform on Meet the Press last Sunday.
Daily Kos‘ Joan McCarter is more encouraged by Reid’s choices. She notes that while Baucus did did support Medicaid cuts during the debt limit negotiations, he also voted against the Bowles-Simpson plan. And Murray, who is charged with raising money for Democrats to retake the Senate, will “know as well as anyone the value of protecting the interests of regular people, and particularly Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, in an election year.”
Robert Reich explains Why the President Doesn’t Present a Bold Plan to Create Jobs and Jumpstart the Economy: “I’m told White House political operatives are against a bold jobs plan. They believe the only jobs plan that could get through Congress would be so watered down as to have almost no impact by Election Day. … The idea is to keep the public focused on the deficit drama … They hope all this will distract the public’s attention from the President’s failure to do anything about continuing high unemployment and economic anemia.”
