After being held hostage and assailed by the lefts biggest heavy hitters for months, Wisconsin voters had the opportunity to strike back.....and strike back they did.

The left had campaigned, loudly and expensively for the opportunity to recall 6 Republican State Senators. Stump speeches by such imported leftist luminaries like Al Sharpton and Michael Moore with class warfare rhetoric, added to the din.

Democrats and organized labor calculated if they replaced these 6 senators with liberal legislators, they would be able to overturn all of the public employee collective bargaining reforms & budget reforms that ushered in the new year.

With an unprecedented amount of money poured into relatively small districts, some estimate as much as 40 million dollars and the overwhelming amount of personnel bussed in from all over the country, many thought it was a foregone conclusion that the left would win. Collective wisdom said no one could withstand this sort of massive firepower concentrated on them. Many predicted a landslide win by the left.

But Wisconsin voters are a unique lot, a bit stubborn and independent. They were not going to be bullied by outsiders using aggressive tactics, nor were they going to be bamboozled by slick expensive ads assaulting them 24/7 on every level of media. The lefts mind stretching argument that their privileges, had somehow turned into some sort of sacred rights, fell flat with Wisconsin voters, who themselves have had to pare back in this tough economy.

After the ballot gun smoke cleared, the Republicans still remained in power and the ongoing reforms remain in place. The left was not able to gain control by conventional legislative means through the ballot process. Democrats still face the specter of 2 of their Senators facing recall elections in the coming week...Stay tuned.

Ironically, the headlines today show that the Wisconsin economy, under their new Republican leadership has begun to roar back and is gaining more private sector jobs than any state. Irony of ironies: Wisconsin's AAA credit rating, lost under the previous Democrat stewardship, has been restored under the leadership of the new crew.

Washington DC are you paying attention?

For other points of view visit Carroll Standard: www.carrollstandard.com