海角大神

Two is the number of Republican state senators in Wisconsin successfully deposed by Democratic challengers yesterday. Not exactly a whopping figure, but remember: Thirteen is the number of state senators who have ever been recalled.

So was this a resounding victory for Democrats? Hardly.

We about how one would be well-served to think about Wisconsin鈥檚 six recall votes as a symbolic measure, a first glimpse at how one typically moderate state would react to Republican Gov. Scott Walker鈥檚 hardline move against unions and the rise of a more strident form of conservative politics, headlined by the tea party, in general.

What did we learn? Wisconsin in 2011 is a lot like Wisconsin in 2008. In other words, the election offered neither massive backlash to GOP policy nor strong support for those same policies. The symbol, could you call it that, is a dud.

While the state鈥檚 high-profile showdown over workers rights lead many to focus on organized labor鈥檚 big campaign contributions, the recalls 鈥� which ate up almost as much cash as the state鈥檚 gubernatorial election last year 鈥� actually ended up with Republicans . As such, any reports of big labor getting a big black eye are also exaggerated.

As the conservative publication , Democrats dreaming of recalling Walker have to face a much more difficult reality. In addition, their hopes of up-ending controversial collective bargaining legislation appears to be several years away at the earliest as they failed to gain control of the state senate (although they did narrow the GOP鈥檚 lead to a single vote, 17-16). As such, 鈥渢he results are pretty good news for Republicans. But they shouldn鈥檛 get cocky.鈥�

DCDecoder Action Items:

• Wondering about collective bargaining rights (the row that kicked off this whole recall saga) in your state? See this handy .
• Fuming Democrats didn鈥檛 go six-for-six? .
• Think Governor Walker is on the right track? Conservative group Americans for Prosperity also has a .

Want your political news unscrambled? Visit .