Walker-ing It Back

With Wisconsin GOP state senators facing recalls next week and Gov. Scott Walker facing his own recall effort, Walker is scrambling to shore up his defenses as the recall election is absolutely seen as a referendum on his policies.  For now, that means Gov. Walker is giving up on his indefensible and controversial plan to close DMV offices in Democratic strongholds in the wake of the state's new Voter ID law.

In a sharp reversal, the state of Wisconsin announced yesterday it will expand Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) services to accommodate the increased demand for photo identification in the wake of a controversial new Voter ID law. As ThinkProgress reported last week, after signing a Voter ID law earlier this year that disenfranchises tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters, Gov. Scott Walker (R) then called for closing as many as 16 DMV offices across the state, making it even more difficult for residents to obtain the ID they needed to regain their electoral voice. 

Walker and the state's GOP senators have been getting hit hard on this and with the election expected to be very close on Tuesday, the damage control is on.  Of course, should enough GOP state senators survive the recall vote in order to keep control with the Republicans, I'm betting this plan will be changed back very quietly.

The bigger picture of course is that Wisconsin is the new battleground for the country.  The Club For Growth/ALEC/Koch Brothers machine has all but bought the state's Republicans and taken completely over the state with the intent to wipe out unions, disenfranchise voters, and lock the state down as a permanent Republican outpost.  If the Democrats can win the state senate back next week and recall Walker next year, there still may be fight left in the country.

If not, expect ALEC legislative franchising to come to your state, if it's not there already.