Last bit from Madison

So they just had a judicial election in Wisconsin that somehow went from a sleepy local election to the forefront of the national political wars. To me it was another sign that democracy is failing. Ideological purity was again the only thing it seemed people were voting on. Not any ability to reason. Not that I'm upset with the result of the election. I don't know squat about either candidate, but over $5 million poured in from interest groups from across the nation. Neither candidate could control their own message anymore. It was all the outside people blowing the money. This whole racket and that awful decision by the Supreme Court is just meant for all people to lose faith in voting and democracy. It sort of sucks.

I take the result as a small repudiation of Walker. The Republicans easily would have won this one if he hadn't kicked the hornet's nest. But it wasn't like this was a blow out. Union folks are trying to tell themselves that Walker has energized them. But for the most part, these are people that would have voted democratic anyway. I'm not seeing a huge difference yet.