Breaking: Wisconsin Dems throw their weight behind drive to recall GOP Senators

By Greg Sargent

The Wisconsin Democratic Party has decided to throw its weight behind a nascent grassroots drive to recall a number of GOP state senators, a move that will considerably increase the pressure on them to break with Governor Scott Walker, the Dem party chair confirms to me.

"The proposals and the policies that Republicans are pushing right now are not what they campaigned on, and they're extreme," the party chair, Mike Tate, said in an interview. "Something needs to be done about it now. We're happy to stand with citizens who are filling papers to recall these senators."

Previously, Wisconsin Dems had not publicly supported talk about recalling GOP Senators, in hopes of privately reaching a negotiated solution to the crisis. The Wisconsin Democratic Party's decision to support the recall drives represents a significant ratcheting up of hostilities and in essence signals that all bets are off.

Eight Republican Senators are eligible to be recalled right now, and various groups around Wisconsin are beginning to file papers to make it happen. Tate told me that the party would throw its organization behind such efforts

"We're an aggressive, on-the-ground group and we're going to be looking to aid these citizens in any way we can," he said.

Tate said he couldn't say whether such a recall drive would result in GOP Senators breaking with Walker, given their solidarity so far, but he vowed that a number of them would pay the price by losing their own jobs.

"There are Republican senators today that will lose their seats in a recall election in the next few months," he said "We're happy to assist."

Asked if Wisconsin Dems would drop their push to recall senators if they abandoned the drive to roll back public employee bargaining rights. Tate said he couldn't guarantee that, arguing that Walker's proposed budget cuts yesterday took this fight to a whole new level.

"In the past 24 hours, this has gotten so much larger than the rights of our public employees," he said. "This is much larger now than it was a week ago."

UPDATE, 3:08 p.m.: Ian Millhiser has some detail on the slim vote margin some of these Republicans won office with, and on how a recall would work.

And Sam Stein notes that Wisconsin Dems are already raising money to support the recall effort.

UPDATE, 3:43 p.m.: The SEIU is now soliciting support for the recall drives, suggesting labor may join the push to collect the required signatures necessary to make them happen.

UPDATE, 4:19 p.m.: We now have a total of four national polls all showing solid support for public employees.

