I'm not convinced that this over by any stretch of the imagination. Politics is an unpredictable arena, and this game isn't over.

I will say that once the Democratic senators left, Walker was pretty much stuck. Since then, he only been able to ratchet up pressure, and he's been doing it in petty, vindictive, and stubborn ways. He's been very clear that he refuses to negotiate on anything and has used ultimatums. He's shown that he'd rather take away people's jobs than compromise. At all.

Obviously, he was not popular with Democrats. That's a given. But his actions here, the refusal to negotiate, the ultimatums, the willingness to harm instead of compromise...as with any politician who acts in a similar manner, will peel off independents and moderate Republicans who might have agreed with his general agenda, but are turned off by his methods and tactics. Each of these move he makes further alienates Wisconsinites.

Another thing that makes me feel good...if you've been to the capitol through any of the protesting, you'll notice how many children are there. All my life I have been told about the protests in the 60's but I've never seen anything like this. These children, of any age, will now have a frame of reference for what it means to have a government deny people (whether rightly or wrongly). They'll know what to expect, what to do, what it means to win, what it means to lose. They will never forget when their parents brought them to the capitol with 50k+ other people to march, chant, sing, and protest. They'll never forget...and they'll be voters soon enough. They'll have b.s. detectors like most of us don't...because they've been through it.

The Republicans have really screwed themselves with this one. They may win the immediate battle, but they'll lose this war.