A few recall updates worth noting: polls, protests, and Hopper

A few new updates on the recall efforts in Wisconsin.

First, the good news: after only two weekends of canvassing, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has received nearly half of the signatures needed to initiate a recall on all eight Republican State Senators. Under Wisconsin state law, you need to get 25 percent of the total who voted within each senator's district's race in the previous election. The time frame to do this in is 60 days. The Democrats are on pace to do it in half that time.

Now, the mixed news: Daily Kos polling shows that many of the races these GOP Senators would face, if put up against a hypothetical Democrat, are very close. In two of the races, the hypothetical Democrat wins by five percent or more. Three races are within five percent, and the other three have the Republican winning by five percent or more.

This is mixed news because, of course, it's way too early to tell what's going to happen in these recall elections, when they do indeed happen. A "hypothetical Democratic candidate" and an actual person running for office will trend different polling numbers. So we could either see a better result (or worse) depending on who we run in these special elections.

I remain optimistic, however, because of several reasons. In two separate instances this week, Gov. Scott Walker was on the receiving end of protesters numbering in the thousands (one in Washburn, the other near Green Bay).

Besides the number of protests occurring wherever Walker shows up in the state, and beyond the polling numbers that show the state is supporting Democrats, there's the fact that the Wisconsin Republican Party may be imploding on itself. Sen. Randy Hopper is one of the Republican Senators who may lose his seat due to the recall efforts. When protesters came before his house last week, his wife came out and explained Hopper wasn't there, that he was living with his mistress in Madison.

The Party of Family values shows itself once again to be the Party of Hypocrisy.

So while it's not a sure thing yet, it's looking pretty good for the Democrats as far as the recall goes. But we cannot stop now: this election, even if we get all the signatures we need, will not be an easy one to win. You can best believe that the same corporate interests that helped fund Scott Walker's campaign will be out in full force, supporting the Republican candidates with as much money as they need.

Let's show them that they cannot "own" this state's democracy. Support the Wisconsin 14, and let's see if we can't change them into the Wisconsin 17...or more!