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So, if you live in Wisconsin vote and if you do NOT, then go here and contribute a few bucks.

“Citizens for Impartial Justice” was formed to insure that the Wisconsin Supreme Court remains impartial and does not become an activist court. Our independent PAC is committed to support the voters in recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of David Prosser, and returning him to the Court for another 10 years. He has established a record of strict construction and adherence to well developed precedent. Justice Prosser does not work to expand the court’s role in our lives; he rejects extreme positions.

Prosser’s fair and impartial service on the Wisconsin Supreme Court over the past 12 years is a credit to Wisconsin’s long tradition of scholarly and well balanced development of the law. He works to instill collegiality on a Court in the face of an aggressive and manipulative bloc of Justices intent on rendering decisions based on personality and power aggrandizement. He deserves reelection!

His record is impressive:
- 12 years –Supreme Court appointed in 1998 by Governor Tommy Thompson
- 2 years Wisconsin tax Appeals Commission
- 18 Years Wisconsin State Assembly; 2 years as Speaker.
- Outagamie County District Attorney
- United States Department of Justice Attorney
- Staff of the Honorable Harold Froehlich during the Nixon Impeachment

A vote for Prosser is a vote for fair and impartial justice with no gimmicks
and no personal agenda.

Mickey Kaus gives the run down as to what is at stake in the April 5 election.

In a counter-intuitive way, the RIGHT should hope for a Democratic victory and an overturning of the Wisconsin labor reforms?

Walker’s (and Kasich’s and Daniels’) anti-union reforms are having an effect nationwide, even in states where unions are strong. In Los Angeles, for example, a coalition of unions just agreed to non-trivial increases in health and pension contributions for existing workers that will save $400 million. One reason they agreed was undoubtedly the fear that anti-union fever might spread even to California. If Walker gets beaten, public employee unions all over the country will stop being so amenable. (Maybe that will be good for Republicans, in a dialectical way,  because government will become more unaffordable and the “blue state model” will move closer to total bankruptcy. The contradictions will be heightened, if you will. But it will be bad for anyone who wants a working government and lower taxes.)

And, the Democrats politicizing the Wisconsin Supreme Court might actually help Scott Walker as well – giving Walker a political foil.

We will see.

These are my links for March 12th from 18:52 to 18:55:

• Wisconsin: The Left’s Second-Half Game Plan – Wisconsin’s Supreme Court – Second-Half Game Plan: Firedoglake’s David Dayen on the labor-Dem plans to fight back in Wisconsin after losing their battle with Gov Walker. The most intriguing wrinkle is the scheduled state Supreme Court election:

  The matchup between David Prosser (R) and JoAnn Kloppenberg (D) for the state Supreme Court on April 5 just got very interesting. It’s a statewide vote, and the balance of power on the state Supreme Court is at stake.  …. If Democrats win, the legality of what took place tonight [i.e. passing Walker's plan-ed.] may be put in greater question.

  Will Wisconsin voters feel comfortable turning a judicial election into, in effect, a referendum on a law Democrats don’t like? Will the other 3 Democratic-appointed Supreme Court judges play along with this slightly banana-republicy game?

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  I doubt the other Justices would vote in lockstep to get rid of a dem unpopular law.

  Do they not have the referendum in Wisconsin?

• President 2012: Mitch Daniels Showing More Signs of 2012 Run – There’s no doubt Indiana’s budget-cutting governor would be in a good position among Republican elites, among whom his fortunes have risen the most in recent months according to a recent poll. National Journal quotes one anonymous GOP political operative: "Increasingly seen as the anti-Obama — no flash and slogans, but real leadership and a plan.” Approval from party elites does not a primary winner make, but if the movers and shakers in the GOP throw him enough support, it could encourage Daniels to run.

  Signaling that he may indeed have national ambitions, Daniels is heading to D.C. this weekend, his third trip the nation’s capital in a month. Saturday night he’ll be speaking at the annual Gridiron Dinner as the Republican guest, joining his would-be opponent in 2012, Barack Obama. The next day, he’ll be appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Daniels’s first Sunday morning talk show appearance outside of Fox News Sunday.

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  Perhaps but why not?

These are my links for March 10th from 10:33 to 10:38:

• President 2012: Utah threatens GOP primary calendar – Legislative inaction to move back Utah’s presidential primary date is just the latest threat to a calendar already in turmoil.

  State law establishes a primary date of Feb. 7 — one day after first-in-the-nation Iowa — and lawmakers are set to adjourn their session today without making a change. That date is in violation of rules set by both national parties stipulating that no states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada can hold nominating contests before March. With Florida also threatening to hold a primary even earlier, chances are increasing that the Hawkeye State will have to push up its own timetable just to keep its first-in-line status.

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  Looks like an earlier Presidential calendar for the GOP

• Did Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker win? – 2) It appears the Democrats had not accepted the concessions outlined by Walker in an email to some Dem senators (an email his office released). These were discussed below. They allowed collective bargaining over a broader range of issues, but kept the provision ending mandatory union dues checkoff, which is arguably the change unions fear the most. I doubt there was ever a route to a mutually acceptable compromise unless the dues-checkoff provision could itself have somehow been compromised; 

  3) If Walker’s concessions had been accepted,  he still basically would have won (largely because of the dues provision). But the Dems could have returned to Madison claiming that their dramatic walkout had resulted in a non-trivial victory of sorts, and the press was poised to portray them as brave, victorious heroes. This outcome denies the Democrats that media triumph. No doubt the MSM will come up with another way to celebrate the Flight of the 14 as a Tunisia-like tide-turning. But it will take some creativity, and the public might not buy it;

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  Read all of Mickey Kaus's analysis.

  Yes, Scott Walker has won.

• Why labor can’t compromise in Wisconsin = Mandatory Union Dues – Why the WI Dems Can’t Compromise: In the Wisconsin union fight, it looks as if Gov. Walker has taken Chuck Lane’s advice, which is to give ground on collective bargaining (allowing the right to bargain for raises, for example, without limiting them to the CPI) while sticking with the elimination of the mandatory dues checkoff.  The latter is what really terrifies unions, because it might dry up the political funds they use to elect candidates (who then give them raises, etc.). Arguably this political spending power is more important to the unions even than collective bargaining power–especially in states where unions don’t have the right to strike, they can get more by electing friendly pols than by traditional union negotiating tactics anyway.  But that’s also why the pro-union Dems are unlikely to be given permission to agree to Walker’s compromise.

These are my links for March 9th from 17:13 to 18:25:

• President 2012: Gov Haley Barbour adds online communications aide – James Richardson – Haley Barbour's political operation, steadily ramping up toward a full presidential campaign, has hired a communications adviser to handle its online outreach, a Barbour aide confirmed this evening.

  James Richardson, who was online communications manager for the RNC in the 2008 cycle, joins a team that already includes former 2004 RNC communications director Jim Dyke.

  Richardson has more recently been a consultant to Senator Dan Coats and to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He's also a blogger who's written quite a bit at RedState and elsewhere.

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  Congrats James

• Breaking: Without Democrats Present, Wisconsin Senate Voting on Largely-Intact Budget Repair Bill (UPDATED) | The Weekly Standard – Without Democrats Present, Wisconsin Senate Voting on Largely-Intact Budget Repair Bill
• Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s Statement on Budget Vote | The Weekly Standard – Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's Statement on Budget Vote
• Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s Statement on Budget Vote – Wisconsin state senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald issued the following statement on the senate's vote on the budget repair bill tonight without Democrats present:

  “Before the election, the Democrats promised “adult leadership” in Madison. Then a month and a half into session, the Senate Democrats fled the state instead of doing their job.

   

  “In doing so, they have tarnished the very institution of the Wisconsin state Senate.  This is unacceptable.

   

  “This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take our counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.

   

  “With that letter, I realized that we’re dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn’t have a plan or an intention to return.  His idea of compromise is “give me everything I want,” and the only negotiating he’s doing is through the media.

   

  “Enough is enough.

   

  “The people of Wisconsin elected us to do a job.  They elected us to stand up to the broken status quo, stop the constant expansion of government, balance the budget, create jobs and improve the economy.  The longer the Democrats keep up this childish stunt, the longer the majority can’t act on our agenda.