Wisconsin Recall Marks Labor Win; Election Money Raises Question of US as “Democracy or Dollar-ocracy?”

For analysis on the Wisconsin recall vote, we go to Madison to speak with John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine. Although Republicans hold on to a slim 17-to-16 majority after the election, Nichols says the Democrats’ pick-up of two seats, coupled with the moderate stance of Republican State Sen. Bill Schulz, amounts to a new “pro-labor majority” in the Wisconsin State Senate. “Gov. Scott Walker took a hit last night,” Nichols says. “Even though Democrats didn’t win, progressive politics made a real advance.” Some $30 million was spent by outside groups on the Wisconsin recall. Looking forward to the 2012 national election Nichols says the “biggest message from Wisconsin” is that “we are going to see absolutely unprecedented amounts of money coming into our politics and have to ask ourselves the question, do we have a democracy or a dollar-ocracy?