I think the Republicans did just about everything they could have to win this seat for the incumbent, Prosser, but the union money that was poured into this race will prove to be too much to overcome. Right now, Prosser holds an 800 vote lead, with 99% reporting, but does anyone honestly expect this to hold up? Dane County has one precinct left, and that county broke 73-27 for Kloppenburg. Milwaukee has a couple of precincts left, but that didn't break as hard for Kloppenburg as I had expected.

So who learns a lesson from this? I know my beliefs are confirmed, and I really am not taking any new lessons from this election. Prosser has been on the court for 10 years now, and was elected comfortably the last time. What has changed, to cause him to be unseated? A decision by the elected GOP governor to reign in spending, and to provide some assurances that those changes would stick. I am referring to the collective bargaining aspect of this election cycle, specifically Walker's attempt to take that away from public sector unions, not including fire and police. They shouldn't have them in the first place, but Wisconsin is the birthplace of collective bargaining (so I'm told). 

What has been taken from union members? Not a thing, except for the privilege of having someone else represent you in bargaining for benefits. Now you have to do it yourself, just like most people in the private sector. However, the private sector has a regulating factor that the public sector does not have: the market decides, by way of profits and losses. Public sector unions depend on the taxpayer, so there is no market force determining how much is too much. That is what is at stake. That, and the automatic withdrawal of union dues from the paycheck of the union member. Actually that's probably the main reason behind all this (follow the money, as always), but I digress.

How is Prosser involved? He is a conservative on the court, and voting him out will give the progressives/democrats/liberals a 4/3 advantage on the court, along with the Chief Justice. They will be able to overturn laws such as the collective bargaining agreement. This was voted on, and passed by the legislature which was elected. Now a judge will be able to throw that out, over the wishes of the elected representatives of the people. The dems/libs/progs fight from the bench, when they are beaten at the polling booth. As I said, this is not news to me, but I hope others will see what this decision and election have brought about. Judicial overturns of the law aren't what the founding members of this country had in mind, but that doesn't matter to some. The lesson I hope is learned from this is that decisions like this come back to bite you in the end, so consider this double edged sword carefully, democrats. It can be used against you in the future. And I suspect it will, but it won't be how you expect it.

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