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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 10th on 10:33

March 10, 2011 /

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.