The matinee sign of Madison’s old RKO Orpheum Theater / DJ Pangburn

Republicans are starting to flinch in Wisconsin.

One day after news broke that Scott Walker's administration gave a state job and a 26% raise to the son of a major supporter, Scott Walker demoted said campaign contributor's son and rescinded his raise. JS Online:

Gov. Scott Walker abruptly reversed course today and demoted the son of a large campaign contributor to his former job with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. The move comes one day after the Journal Sentinel reported that Brian Deschane, 27, had landed an $81,500-a-year job in Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce. The promotion amounted to a raise of 26%. His father is Jerry Deschane, executive vice president and longtime lobbyist for the Madison-based Wisconsin Builders Association. The group's political action committee gave $29,000 to Walker and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, last year, making it one of the top five PAC donors to the governor's successful campaign. Members of the trade group also funneled more than $92,000 through its conduit to Walker's campaign over the past two years. The younger Deschane has no college degree, little management experience and two drunken driving convictions.

This may seem like a microscopic victory, and in and of itself that perception is accurate. However, along with the Walker administration's decision to finally comply with a retraining order blocking the implementation of the bill stripping collective bargaining rights, it has a deeper meaning in the Wisconsin fight. It shows that the Scott Walker administration is afraid.

Even if only in bits and pieces, the Walker administration is starting to flinch and repudiate its own behavior. They were not doing this earlier in the fight, even during heights of embarrassment such as the infamous prank phone call with someone pretending to be David Koch. Given this change, it's a good bet Scott Walker knows he is losing ground with the public and is afraid of losing more. It also shows that the Walker administration concurs with our assessment that state Senator Randy Hopper is in a lot of trouble, since Hopper is facing a similar scandal over his mistress receiving a state job with a 35% raise.

Oh, a speaking of Randy Hopper, your ads against him has now received more than 3,750,000 page views in his district, even thought he district only has a population of 175,000. The ad will continue running until Thursday morning, by which time basically everyone who uses the internet in his district will have seen it.