Walker's interesting GOP opponent

While we're on the subject of Wisconsin, we thought we'd bring you this entertaining video from frequent liar Gov. Scott Walker's Republican opponent in the May 8 primary. His name is Arthur Kohl-Riggs, a 23-year-old college dropout (hey, that makes two college dropouts running for the Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin...).

Today's Teamster News 08.20.11

Now with narrower majority, Republican senators tout teamwork, jobs  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Republicans now control the Senate 17-16 - down from 19-14 before this summer's recall elections - and Republican Gov. Scott Walker is now touting bipartisanship. Democrats are skeptical...
John Kasich looking to compromise on ballot referendum  Washington Post   ...Liberal and labor groups disappointed by the outcome in the Wisconsin recall elections are pointing to new developments in Ohio as proof that their effort is paying off...
Kasich to address nation this weekend  Columbus Dispatch   ...House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, said Kasich has been asked to talk about how his administration’s success closing the largest budget shortfall in Ohio’s history without raising taxes can offer lessons for Washington, D.C...
Snyder: Let's take challenge to emergency manager law right to Supreme Court  Detroit Free Press   ...Gov. Rick Snyder has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of emergency manager legislation approved earlier this year over vehement opposition from public employee unions...
Jobless rate up as public workers out  Nashua Telegraph   ...The state’s jobless rate shot up to 5.2 percent fueled by a one-month loss of 9,100 jobs in local government...
PA Chamber members support Pennsylvania becoming a 'right-to-work' state  PA Chamber   ...In advance of a House Labor and Industry Committee public hearing held Aug. 16 on the issue, the PA Chamber submitted a letter to committee members outlining the business community’s concerns with the status quo...
Cuts in Health Care May Undermine Role in Labor Market  New York Times   ... “It’s not realistic to believe that we’re going to continue to generate job growth when you’re speaking about Medicare and Medicaid reductions in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years,”...

Today's Teamster News 08.17.11

Democrats hold seats in Wisconsin recall elections  Reuters   ...Two Wisconsin Democratic state senators beat back Republican challengers on Tuesday in the last of a series of recall elections triggered by a fight over collective bargaining rights for public sector workers...
Monaghan-Derrig wins Maine House seat in Cape Elizabeth  Portland Press-Herald   ...Democrat Kimberly Monaghan-Derrig defeated Republican Nancy Thompson in a special election Tuesday to win the District 121 seat in the Maine House of Representatives...
$2 donation is great, but Issue 2 backers could use more (opinion)  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...The supporters of Issue 2 -- folks who want to defend Senate Bill 5 against unions and others who believe Ohio's collective bargaining reform is bad policy -- are seeking financial help for their campaign...
'Where are the jobs?': Advocacy groups, union members rally outside Tim Walberg's Jackson office  mlive.com   ...Members of advocacy groups and state and national unions rallied in front of U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg’s Jackson office today to ask the congressman to make good on campaign claims that he would help improve the job market...
Rick Scott on WMD's S&P Downgrade: 'It's Good'  Sunshine News   ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday defended legislative actions that prompted a leading rating agency to downgrade the credit rating of the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees billions in debt for a host of issues from flood protection to Everglades restoration...
Teamsters, Sierra Club: FMCSA Fails To Protect Environment From Mexican Trucks  IBT   ...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Sierra Club raised serious concerns with the failure of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to adequately assess the environmental impacts associated with the proposed U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking pilot program...

Victory! Good guys win 2 in WI recall

Woo-hoo!!  Teamster-endorsed candidates held on to their seats in Wisconsin recall elections Tuesday. It wasn't even close. Last we heard, Jim Holperin was winning with 54 percent of the vote and Robert Wirch with 57 percent.

We like state Rep. Peter Barca's statement about Wirch's victory:

As my state Senator, Bob Wirch has always fought to stand up for the citizens of the 22nd State District. I know that he will continue to fight for working, middle-class families by using his pragmatic, results-driven leadership style to refocus the state Senate on creating good-paying jobs and restoring our shared Wisconsin values.

Jonathan Steitz ran on a platform of full support for Gov. Walker’s divisive agenda. Steitz’s defeat tonight can only be viewed as a historic rejection of Gov. Walker’s extreme and hyperpartisan agenda by working, middle-class families.
I look forward to continuing to work with Sen. Wirch to bring Wisconsin together again so we can focus on the issues that matter most – good jobs, strong public schools, access to quality health care and a thriving middle class.

In practical terms, this is what last night's victory means: Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker no longer has control of the Legislature.The make-up of the Senate shifts from a 19-14 Republican majority to a 17-16 advantage. But one Republican, Dale Schultz, is a moderate who voted against Walker's Budget Repair bill.  A Republican leader acknowledged as much. Reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, acknowledged that a tighter margin in his house could affect the flow of GOP legislation.

"The agenda will probably be items that people could perceive as not being as contentious," Fitzgerald said.

And now, on to recalling Scott Walker.

Today's WI recall

Today's the day for the last WI recall (until January, when Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker is eligible to be recalled). Two Democratic state senators who left the state to prevent an anti-union vote are defending their seats. They are Jim Holperin, who faces a Tea Party kook named Kim Simac, and Robert Wirch, who faces Jonathan Steitz, a Republican lawyer.

Politico reports,

Sources on both sides tell me they expect Democrats to struggle to hold Jim Holperin's Wausau seat in rural northeastern Wisconsin, which is expected to be the tightest of the three races. If they lose it, months of furious effort and a huge investment by national unions will have netted them a single senate seat, so the stakes are high for both sides.

DailyKos is a bit more optimistic, having polled the two races and found the Democrats ahead by double digits. Wirch leads his opponent, 55-42, and Holperin leads Simac by 55-41. But special elections like these are notoriously difficult to predict accurately.

Still, if all goes well, David Nir writes,

Democrats will retain their 16 seats in the state Senate to the GOP's 17, putting the occasionally reasonable Republican Dale Schultz in the cat-bird seat. At that point, Democrats should consider further recalls early next year, when the Republicans first elected (or re-elected) in 2010 will be eligible. The playing field will be much more advantageous to us, since that batch of GOP-held seats contains a bunch that are bluer than most of those we contested this year, and it also includes a boatload of freshmen swept in on last year's red tide. We'll also only need one seat rather than three, and it's hard to see any of our remaining seats being vulnerable.

And in a typical "what does it all mean for the next big election?" story, the Christian Science Monitor opines,

If both Democrats prevail, however, the election could offer further evidence that the country's broad political middle is swinging back left after the tea party triumphs of last November.

Today's Teamster News 08.16.11

Tight race expected in final Wisconsin recalls  Washington Post   ...The Wisconsin recall fight ends Tuesday, and while the state Senate is no longer in play, Republicans could cut into the gains Democrats made last week...
Attorney to probe judge altercation  Politico   ...A special prosecutor has been named to investigate the case of two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices fighting in chambers, with a male justice accused of putting his female colleague into a “choke hold...”
Deal on SB5 sought in secret meetings  Columbus Dispatch   ...While We Are Ohio was smashing signature records and raising millions in cash to defeat Senate Bill 5, officials from two of its largest support organizations were secretly meeting with the opposition about a possible deal to water down the collective-bargaining law and cancel the fall referendum...
A walkout is possible  (opinion) Kokomo Tribune   ...The issue: Making Indiana a “right-to-work” state. Our view: Pursuing legislation likely will trigger another Democratic walkout...
Citizens rise up in Maine (opinion)  Boston Globe   ...At least 68,000 Maine residents signed a petition to repeal a recent law that prohibited Election Day voter registration. That should be more than enough to certify a November referendum...
O'Brien fights to lock out the public  Concord Monitor   ...(House Speaker Bill) O'Brien ... is arguing that he has the authority to lock the public out of legislative sessions whenever he chooses...

Today's Teamster News 08.12.11

Reminder, light blogging at TeamsterNation until Aug. 16.

Finding hope in the results from Wisconsin  Salon   ...Tuesday’s recall elections were not statewide, but they do indicate that in some districts Republicans continue to be vulnerable, while in some areas there is a definite movement toward the center if not the left...
Our view: Holperin the best choice in recall contest  Wausau Daily Herald  ...Holperin has a legislative record of working hard for his constituents...
Final two recall elections could lead to state’s first tea party senator  The Cap Times   ...The seats, held by Democratic incumbents Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, are the last of the nine recall elections...
Gov. John Kasich moves ahead with turnpike leasing proposal  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...critics of the plan ... argue that the toll road is extremely well-kept and friendly to neighboring communities. They fear the possible alternative: a money-hungry private operator with no qualms about raising tolls while slacking on maintenance...
Recession in our back yard: 3 manufacturers closing in South Jersey  courierpostonline.com   ...In a span of only a few months, three large manufacturers in South Jersey announced they would shut down, shedding more than 500 jobs and leaving almost 1 million square feet of factory space idle...
Rick Scott Pays $360 a Year for State Health Insurance  Mother Jones   ...Florida's anti-Obamacare governor and his tea party allies in the Legislature pay less for state-funded health insurance than janitors, cops, or teachers...

Today's Teamster News 08.11.11

Wisconsin’s Warning to Union-Busters (opinion)  New York Times   ...Republicans will not admit this, but the numbers showed significant strength for Democrats even in the districts they lost — strength that could grow if lawmakers continue cutting spending and taxes while reducing the negotiating rights of working families...
Moderate Republicans could be most powerful in Wisconsin Legislature  postcrescent.com   ...moderate Republicans — essentially pushed aside the past six months — could now be the most powerful and important people in the Legislature...
Labor and Dems lost. They should be proud of what they accomplished.  Washington Post   ...By staging a fight that drew national attention, labor and Wisconisn Dems revealed an unexpected level of national sympathy for public employees, and, yes, for unions and their basic right to exist...
Grassroots "Progressive Freedom Fund" Looking to Raise $100,000 to Air TV Spot Against Kasich  PR Newswire   ...The grassroots organization PROGRESSIVE FREEDOM FUND today unveiled new TV spots, website and Facebook page...
Muskegon County Board considers right-to-work resolution too hot to touch  mlive.com   ...the right-to-work issue is so controversial to many on the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners that a piece of communication on the topic from another Michigan county won't even be placed on file...
Verizon union members say strike worth hardship   Boston Globe   ...The unions ... are fighting to keep employee pensions, affordable health care benefits, and a clause that makes it more difficult for Verizon to lay off union workers. If that job security is wiped away, union members fear they will lose their jobs and the work will be outsourced overseas or shifted to company facilities in other parts of the country...

Today's Teamster News 08.10.11

Both sides see victories in hard-fought Wisconsin recall contests  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ... Democrats won two Wisconsin Senate seats in Tuesday’s historic recall elections, but failed to capture a third seat that would have given them control of the chamber...
Wis. Dems won't challenge results  Politico   ...After firing a series of sharp missives against Waukesha County clerk Kathy Nickolaus, Wisconsin Democratic chairman Mike Tate reels in his barbs in an early Wednesday morning statement...
Wisconsin wrap up, a real victory, and we fight on  DailyKos   ...We took the fight into red territory, and took two seats. What was a safe 19-14 GOP advantage is now a narrow 17-16...
Democrat wins special House election  Manchester Union-Leader   ...“Bob Perry's victory tonight is a complete and total rejection of Republican House Speaker Bill O'Brien's reckless job-killing agenda,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley...
Rick Scott paying tea-party activist $70k in ‘public liaison’ post  Orlando Sentinel   ...Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday defended his decision to hire tea party activist Robin Stublen as a new “deputy director of public liaison” at $70,000 a year, pledging to “hold him accountable” to the taxpayers...
Truckers have concerns over OH turnpike going private  WTOL   ...Ed Nagle, a trustee with the Ohio Trucking Association, is raising concerns because he wants Ohio to avoid mistakes made when the Indiana Toll Road went private...

WI makes history as 2 lawmakers recalled



Add caption

 Teamster-endorsed candidates scored victories in Wisconsin on Tuesday as they kicked two lawmakers out of office by recall election. A Republican incumbent apparently hung on to her state senate seat amid accusations of election tampering by a Republican county official.

The Democrats won in two strongly Republican districts that voted against Barack Obama in 2008. Jen Schilling beat Dan Hanky-Kapanke and Jess King defeated randy Randy Hopper. The losers had voted for Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's plan to destroy unions.

In the third, Alberta Not-so-Darling narrowly edged out Sandy Pasch. However, Darling's victory depended on results from Waukesha County, where Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has a history of questionable behavior in counting ballots.  The tardiness of the results from Waukesha County added to suspicions about the integrity of the vote count.

Cowardly Rob Cowles hung on to his seat, as did Subsidy Sheila Harsdorf.
Luther Olsen beat Fred Clark. Control of the Senate remains in Republican hands unless the Darling victory is overturned.

More in the morning.

How to follow WI recall today minute-by-minute

The polls are open in Wisconsin for what we hope is a historic election. Wisconsin bloggers are collaborating to provide live coverage all day.

Dane 101 announces:

We're teaming up with Waukesha Wonk, Uppity Wisconsin, Blue Cheddar, Illusory Tenant, Blogging Blue, Forward Our Motto, and the Job Party to cover tomorrow's historic recall elections (possibly more will be joining us). At 8 a.m. we'll be posting a CoverItLive module that will feed into our various sites reports from all of our blogs.

Appleton Wonk on blue cheddar put it all in context with a post, "Move Over McCarthy,  Wisconsin Has A New Progressive Movement." We like this observation:

The whole world is watching the events in Wisconsin as they unfold. There are many around the country and world that are pinning their hopes on our successes.  They feel if we are successful in restoring our democracy, they will have a chance to do it, as well. Wisconsin we can prove that people are more important than special interest groups and big money. Wisconsin will show the world what a democracy of the people looks like. The people in Wisconsin are some of the most bright, creative, cooperative people I know. If anyone can bring back democracy, we can do it.

For everything you need to know about the recalls, we bring you John Nichols at the Nation here.

And yes, we expect dirty tricks from the other side. But the Daily Isthmus reports on preparations to monitor the elections through citizen exit polling:

The purpose of citizen exit polling, say organizers, is to monitor the "integrity" of elections that rely on computerized machines to tally votes. Concerns about the validity of electronic voting machines in the 2004 elections, as well as the mishandling of some 14,000 ballots by the Waukesha county clerk in the recent Supreme Court race, have brought the issue to the fore in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

We're holding our breath...

Today's Teamster News 08.09.11

24 Hours Until Wisconsin Recall Elections: All Hands On Deck!   Venice for Change   "...predictions of victory at this point are beyond premature – they’re dangerous," wrote We Are Wisconsin field director Kristen Crowell in an Aug. 3 memo obviously designed to lower expectations..."
Election Officials Prepare for Big Turnout Tuesday  Milwaukee Public Radio   ...“Because we’re seeing so much activity and so much interest in this election, we think the turnout could be 5,500 to 6,300, which would put it anywhere between 50 percent and 55 percent of voter turnout,”...
Historic recall elections put spotlight on Wisconsin  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Since 1908, there have been 20 recorded state legislative recall elections held in the United States, according to one recall expert. Wisconsin is in the process of holding nine such elections in the space of a month...
Anti-union group sues state's largest teachers union  Cincinnati Enquirer   ...A lawsuit filed by 15 teachers from around the state challenges one of the state's largest teachers unions about how it uses money collected from non-union members...
Poll: Snyder's approval rating falls to 32%, down from 45%  Associated Press   ...Voters' moods are more sour on Michigan than they were earlier this year, according to a Michigan State University poll released Friday...
Missouri Gov. Nixon vetoes voter-ID bill  Kansas City Star   ...Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday vetoed legislation that would have required voters to show photo identification at the polls and allowed some ballots to be cast before Election Day...

WI recall: Too close to call

DailyKos has a new poll out and the results are nerve-racking. Bottom line: too close to call. Read the whole thing here and do what they tell you to help out.

Meanwhile, TAPPED has a pretty good take on what's at stake in Wisconsin tomorrow:

These elections (and two next week) will determine whether Governor Scott Walker will retain a Republican state senate majority, and will also gauge the likelihood that he’ll face his own ouster in January. They’ll also provide a rare test case for a brand of populist, anti-corporate campaigning that activists often call for but many Democrats shy away from. These Democrats are using a class-based message in six districts red enough to have elected Republican state senators on the same day Barack Obama was elected president.

And here are some random tweets we like:

@jmallory72:

Just finished canvassing in Green Bay. Good day most doors positive

@charyl:

New Teaparty tshirt: I wanted a Default, but all I got was this stupid Credit Downgrade

@TheNewDeal:

Tomorrow's Elections are Not Republican vs. Democrat. It's Koch Industries vs. the Working People of WI.

@4SHCrane:

We are WI office in Portage asked me to tweet for more canvassing volunteers today & tomorrow! Can you help

@Karoli:

if you can, please phonebank for #wiunion. these are tight races. Really tight races. GOTV will matter.

@ChrisJLarson:

Heading to help Sandy in the final push before tomorrow. All 6 #WIrecall races are close - if you want to help be... http://fb.me/16n3iEjq9

VIDEO: A down-to-the-wire WI recall ad

Crossing our fingers that Teamster-endorsed Sandy Pasch beats Alberta Not-so-Darling.

VIDEO: Tea Party in WI. Unintentionally hilarious.

We like to think that David Koch couldn't pay Teamsters enough to look this ridiculous. As one person commented on youtube,

teabaggers - you're ugly, you can't sing and your mom dresses you funny.

The video features the Koch-backed Tea Party Express on Aug. 5, when it made a stop in Hudson, Wisc., to support Republican state Sen. Subsidy Sheila Harsdorf. Subsidy Sheila is trying to cling to her senate seat so she can continue to attack the middle class. This unintentionally hilarious video demonstrates that Tea Partiers are not only unaware that they're puppets of billionaires, they don't understand how cosmically untalented they are.

We learned more about the stop from the youtube comments:

They drive on public highways, take money from the Koch brothers, and then pass the hat ( with cops guarding the hat ) to get enough gas money to drive their $1/2 mIllion dollar bus to the next WI town. Can anyone besides Sheila Harsdorf say "OUTSIDE INTEREST"?

It was much worse in person. Their 'message' was impossible to deconstruct. The best part was their bus had the word "Setpember" on it. The Tea Party Express: Helping "morans" everywhere feel better about themselves.

Today's Teamster News 08.07.11

Wisconsin Recall Races No Slam Dunk  Forbes   ...While Wisconsin Democrats are putting on a confident face as they head into next week’s defining recall elections, behind the scenes they have reason to be far less confident...
Minnesota union members give Wisconsin recall campaigns a boost  Workday Minnesota   ...The campaign to replace those six GOP senators with labor-endorsed, Democratic challengers is getting a boost from union activists in Minnesota, who are lending a hand in two districts along the states’ shared border...
Tammy Baldwin and John Nichols speak before Get Out the Vote Recall Weekend in Wisconsin  blue cheddar   ...in all 72 counties of my state thousands of Wisconsinites are feeling the same mix of butterflies and excitement...
Kasich goes looking for extra trouble (opinion)  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...With Democrats already plotting Kasich's demise, and with a crucial election looming on collective bargaining, it fails the common-sense test for Kasich to be sowing seeds of ill will within his own party...
Report: Gov. Christie failed to disclose helicopter trips to shore  USA Today   ...Michael Drewniak, Christie's spokesman, told the Courier-Post that the failure to include the trips to the state-owned Governor's Ocean House was a "mix-up" and that the governor's office "did not hold back anything..."
Dems call NH speaker a hypocrite on student voting  Associated Press   ...The chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party called Republican House Speaker Bill O'Brien a hypocrite Thursday for trying to ban out-of-state college students from voting in New Hampshire while his son voted in two states...

Today's Teamster News 08.05.11

Note to readers: Light blogging over the next week as we are on vacation. But we'll keep you posted on the WI recalls.

Nearly 30 outside interest groups pour millions in Wis. recall elections, watchdog group says  Washington Post   ...The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reports 29 groups that are required to register campaign fund-raising and spending with state election officials reported spending $12.5 million in the recalls...
WI Republican Election Observer Guidelines Contain "numerous significant and factual errors"  DailyKos   ...The GAB recently posted a memo on its website urging local election officials to exercise "Caution Against Reliance on Third-Party Election Information." The memo mentions only one group by name - a shadowy group called We’re Watching Wisconsin Elections ... nothing more than a right-wing "election bully" training organization...
Senate Bill 5 ballot language set  Dayton Daily News   ...The language for this fall’s most controversial issue, the referendum of Senate Bill 5, favors rejection of the collective bargaining reform law if Ohio history is a guide...
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Tells a Tea Party Leader He Won’t Pursue Right-to-Work  We Party Patriots  ...State Representative Amanda Price reaffirmed what Governor Rick Snyder proclaimed earlier this year to members of the state’s Building Trades unions: that “Michigan is not Wisconsin” and that he will not sign a Right-to-Work (RTW) bill into law...
DSCC asks Justice to halt Florida voting law  Politico   ...the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has stepped out of its usual legal lane to file a formal comment to the Department of Justice, urging him to object to Florida's new law...
Speaker O'Brien planning special House session  Manchester Union Leader   ...Lawmakers will return to Concord in September to vote on a series of new bills, still being drafted, that will cut the new budget, try to block parts of a pending state employee contract and bar increased support to women who have children while on welfare...
Debate 'right to work' (opinion)  The Journal Gazette   ...proponents can’t explain why non-union companies such as Honda or Toyota currently have plants in Indiana if right-to-work status is a deal-breaker. Honda has 1,000 Indiana workers in Greensburg, with plans to double that number with the addition of a second shift...  

VIDEO: Bad week for Not-so-Darling in WI recall. Such a shame.

Republican state Sen. Alberta Not-so-Darling is considered one of the toughest of the six to beat in Tuesday's recall election. That's why we were so pleased to learn from Cognitive Dissidence that she's having a very bad week.

First, she was sued by One Wisconsin Now because

...she has, for two months, refused to even respond to an open records request for any communications between her office and a number of conservative groups and their members, which are pushing for the privatization of our schools.  The only rational explanation for not even putting up a stall tactic with OWN is because there's been scads of contact between them, which would raise some serious ethical and legal questions for her.

She also made the mistake of saying people who make $250,000 a year "aren't wealthy."

Then at a Milwaukee Newsmakers luncheon she was asked to name a job that her extremist union-busting, budget-cutting agenda had created. Cognitive Dissidence writes,

...she could only come up with that deer-in-the-headlights look.

Hours after this gaffe, her campaign called to list three companies that had added jobs, but with no mention of when or if how they were related to Darling's policies. For all we know, they were added well before any of the GOP's malarkey got under way.

At the same luncheon, she was asked if she was going to win her election.

Her answer was, "I'm not sure."

Express Milwaukee gave Not-so-D a face rake in an editorial endorsing her opponent, Teamster-endorsed Sandy Pasch. The editorial read, in part,

...Darling was a leader in crafting a state budget that includes historic, damaging cuts to public education, from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. She's granting the unelected Department of Health Services secretary unprecedented, unchecked power to make $467 million in cuts to BadgerCare and Family Care. Darling has gutted public transportation around the state at the same time she's filling the coffers of the road builders, who are major contributors to Republicans...

And lastly, there's the video (above) that catches here clearly lying. 

Though things are looking good for the Teamster-endorsed candidates, the opposition is pouring a ton of money into Wisconsin and will continue their dirty tricks until the last vote is counted. So go to We Are Wisconsin to find out how you can help the cause -- even if you don't live in Wisconsin.

New polls: Mixed picture for WI recall

A new analysis shows Mike Tate, who heads the Wisconsin Democratic Party, may have been a little optimistic yesterday. He said the six Democratic (Teamster-endorsed) candidates were ahead of or even with the six state senators who support Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's attacks on the middl class.

Here's another take on the next recall election from The Wiss Sconz.

... internal polls recall campaigns have been conducting reveal a mixed picture for the Democratic effort to retake the State Senate....Jess King is apparently not polling as well against Randy Hopper...Fred Clark is a source of hope for Democrats in his race against Luther Olsen...Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse), (who) represents a typically Democratic district...Dems are also encouraged by the poll performance of Nancy Nusbaum, who is running against Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Green Bay)...Both sides are claiming an edge in the Milwaukee-area race between Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. Sandy Pasch...In the race between Sen. Sheila Harsdorf and Shelly Moore, Democrats feel a little discouraged...

So there you have it. We have just two things to say: 1. Turnout. 2. Anything you can do to help, do. Here's a place (click here) to find out exactly what you can do even if you don't live in Wisconsin. 

Today's Teamster News 08.03.11

Appeals court rules in favor of Right to Life  Associated Press   ...A federal appeals court has ruled that the state of Wisconsin cannot enforce a $10,000 limit on donations received by independent political action committees...
Ohio GOP Forgets Its Zero Tolerance Pledge After Three Members Get In Trouble With The Law  Think Progress   ... DeWine, Kasich, and other Republican leaders have not attempted to enforce that zero tolerance policy when it comes to the three members who have had legal problems this year... 
Detroit teachers union to fight cuts in potential test for Michigan's new emergency manager law  Mlive.com   ...The Detroit Federation of Teachers is preparing to fight a 10 percent wage cut imposed by state-appointed emergency manager Roy Roberts, setting up a potential test case for Michigan's newly-strengthened law...
Another bond rating agency takes dim view of state's budget solutions  Minneapolis Star-Tribune   ...On the heels of a "kick the can down the road" budget solution, Moody’s Investor Service placed Minnesota on a negative outlook for its bond rating...
Unions Joining Forces To Counter Christie  Wall Street Journal   ...In an unusual show of collaboration, New Jersey's public worker unions plan to join together to try to upend Gov. Chris Christie's signature accomplishment this year: cuts to their pensions and health-care benefits...
Region's jobless rate rises  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...a confluence of factors -- including a rising number of jobs paired with an increase in the number of people interested in working -- may have pulled up the unemployment rate in the seven counties that make up the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area...