COMBAT IN WISCONSIN – AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Reports from the People's Republic of Madison indicate that neither side is backing down.  Many Dem lawmakers have crossed state lines into the welcoming arms of the tax authorities of Illinois, so they don't have to go back to the Wisconsin legislature and actually vote on serious spending proposals.  Are these legislators still being paid?  From Fox:

Wisconsin Republicans on Sunday upped the pressure on Democrats who fled to Illinois to return home and vote on an anti-union bill, with the governor calling them obstructionists and a GOP lawmaker threatening to convene without them.

Gov. Scott Walker said the 14 minority Democrats who left Madison on Thursday were failing to do their jobs by "hiding out" in another state. And Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said his chamber would meet Tuesday to act on non-spending bills and confirm some of the governor's appointees even if the Democrats don't show up -- a scenario that should outrage their constituents.

Senate Democrats acknowledged that the 19 Republicans could pass any item that doesn't spend state money in their absence. The budget-repair bill they have been blocking requires a quorum of 20 senators to pass, while other measures require only a simple majority of the chamber's 33 members.

Nonetheless, Democrats said they were standing firm in their opposition to the budget-repair bill, which would take away the right of most public employees to collectively bargain for their benefits and working conditions. Hundreds of protesters filled the Capitol for a sixth straight day, noisily calling on Walker to drop the plan they consider an assault on workers' rights.

COMMENT:  If Scott Walker wins this battle, he emerges as a national figure.  But we have not yet seen serious polling in Wisconsin to assess the strength of the competing sides in public opinion.

Reports this morning indicate that the union protests are being led by teachers, many of whom are refusing to go into the classroom while the fight with the governor is underway.  This will not endear them to parents.

The whole issue of the legitimacy and desirability of public-employee unions is coming to a head in Wisconsin, with a possibile confrontation expected next in Ohio.  The key question:  Will the unions overplay their hand and face a severe backlash?  Some news reports say that the union movement is split, with some urging caution and compromise and others favoring the kind of confrontation we're seeing on the streets of Madison.  No outcome clear at this hour.

February 21, 2011