Just some brief thoughts that came to mind.

Democrats lost and by a big margin. In a blue state, with large labor union population, with high turnout. About a third (!) of union members voted for Scott Walker, according to some exit polls. What is becoming evident to me is that Democrats fail to play a long game, but Republicans master it. For decades Republicans have succeeded in building an infrastructure that would make a win like this possible. Namely, divide and conquer approach to public unions and general demonization of labor, open floodgates to massive amounts of campaign financing coming from outside groups, limited government mantra repeated over and over for generations that actually sunk in with the population undisputed. Outside Wisconsin there are massive efforts underway to erect voting blocks, like photo ids, because bigger turnout usually favors Democrats. Add to this the conservative Supreme Court and armies of lawyers on call should any election be disputed in court. And generally, conservative have a more cohesive community that picks up its own roadkill (by that I mean gaffe-prone characters) and fiercely comes to their defense, while Democrats are quick to distance themselves from their own gaffes instead of engaging in discussion about what those issues that those blunders expose. I’m really digressing from Wisconsin analysis here, but I felt like touching on this. In short, if you behead a system that conservatives built – it survives, because of the powerful infrastructure behind it (No charismatic leader? No problem – they can pick up a crazy and he/she can actually win). Democrats don’t have that luxury – we’re dependent on having a “Clinton”, or an “Obama”, a person who sucks oxygen out of the room with the charisma, to get people excited and actually come to the polls. Ironically, and to touch of on my previous post, we need a Superman to win, while Republicans, with their powerful infrastructure, can do just fine with a mediocrity.