Walker takes big hit in Assembly race outcome

Democrats won only one seat in the WI State Assembly, but look whose seat it was. And, boy, is it a big deal.

Democrat Steve Doyle defeated Republican John Lautz in the 94th State Assembly District (Monroe and LaCrosse Counties) by a 54%-46% margin for the seat vacated by Republican Mike Huebsch, who was tabbed by Walker to become his Secretary of Administration.

So why is this such a big deal?

Huebsch is Walker's guy--responsible for the budget and for writing the proposal that eliminated collective bargaining for state employees.   Huebsch's hometown paper, the LaCrosse Tribune calls Huebsch the "man in charge" and occupying "what is widely regarded as the most powerful political seat in Wisconsin after the Governor."  As a matter of fact, the last time we saw an Assembly race in the 94th District, Huebsch was re-elected with almost 60% of the vote.

If the people were really with him and his policies, wouldn't you figure his replacement would be a shoo-in?  Instead, a Democrat got the nod in a larger margin (8%) than Walker's self-implied "mandate" when he beat Barrett in the 2010 Gubernatorial election  (about 5%).  It's not unlike what happened to Walker's replacement for his Milwaukee County Executive post, although that was even more pronounced--Walker's pal Jeff Stone got positively stomped by newcomer Chris Abele 61%-39%.

That means the Republican-connected replacements of the state's two most influential politicians most responsible for recent policies of current Wisconsin government were absolutely spanked.

That is a big deal.

The other Assembly races in Republican-laden districts, the 60th (Washington &Ozaukee Counties) and the 83rd (Waukesha, Walworth & Racine Counties) weren't close, but Dem Rick Aaron in 60 garnered 24% in a district that didn't even bother to run a Democrat in 2010, and James Brownlow gained about 5%  from his Democratic predecessor in the 2010 election. (2010 results here; 2011 results here).

So it looks as though the non-Walker base is out there.  It's alive and breathing, and soon will be coming for some unscrupulous Senators.

And, then, Governor, it's coming for you.