Maybe, maybe not. Geraghty, from this morning’s Jolt:

There was big news out of Wisconsin last night. The Wall Street Journal suggests that FleebaggerWatch2011 may be coming to a close in the not-too-distant future: “Playing a game of political chicken, Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to stymie restrictions on public-employee unions said Sunday they planned to come back from exile soon, betting that even though their return will allow the bill to pass, the curbs are so unpopular they’ll taint the state’s Republican governor and legislators.”
Fascinatingly, they think they’ve won: “Sen. Mark Miller said he and his fellow Democrats intend to let the full Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s ‘budget-repair’ bill, which includes the proposed limits on public unions’ collective bargaining rights. The bill, which had been blocked because the missing Democrats were needed for the Senate to have enough members present to consider the bill, is expected to pass the Republican-controlled chamber. He said he thinks recent polls showing voter discontent with Mr. Walker over limits on bargaining rights have been ‘disastrous’ for the governor and give Democrats more leverage to seek changes in a broader two-year budget bill Mr. Walker proposed Tuesday.”
Interesting gamble there, pal. Say this passes and goes into law. How many non-union Wisconsin voters notice the changes? If the teachers show up and do their jobs, and state government operates more or less as it did before, doesn’t the passion of the issue fade, at least to non-union households?
But the question may be moot; another Wisconsin senate Democrat, posting to Facebook from some unknown out-of-state location, says nevermind: “Sen. Miller’s comments are taken out of context in the Wall Street Journal article just released. Dems will return when collective bargaining is off the table. That could be soon based on the growing public opposition to the bill and the recall efforts against Republicans. Unfortunately, the WSJ fished for the quote they wanted, skipping this key step in logic: we won’t come back until worker’s rights are preserved.”
How symbiotic are public-sector unions and Democrats? Try to cut benefits for one and the other goes on strike for them.