Hey Wisconsin Dems, I Feel Your Pain

Washington state Republicans and fellow independents have a pretty good idea how bad Wisconsin Democrats are feeling today after their bid to recall Governor Scott Walker came up snake eyes. We know because we’ve been there.

In 2004, Republican Dino Rossi won the governorship of our great state only to have it clawed back from him by opponent Christine Gregoire through a combination of selective recounting and outright voter fraud. We viewed her as an illegitimate governor, much as Wisconsin Dems viewed Walker.

Had we the right of recall available, we’d have taken it, but the Washington state government has put that remedy effectively beyond our reach. The next best thing was a rematch. Rossi challenged Gregoire in 2008 after she had been governor for a whole term and got his clock cleaned as Obama ran up the score on the West Coast. It was one of the most depressing election night defeats of all time.

“How exhilarating, to be fired on without effect!” wrote a young Winston Churchill of one of Britain’s lopsided colonial battles in Africa. But just try experiencing it from the point of view of the modern tribesman — red or blue — and you’ll have a modicum of sympathy for Wisconsin Dems today.