governor walker survives this. we can debate about what happens 154 days from now in the presidential election, but what happens in the next days and weeks when politicians, whether it's the governor or united states congress, start to deal with these tough budget issues? do they get a lesson out of this? >> well, you know, if you're someone like governor john kasich of ohio you might be breathing a little easier tonight. because he dealt with a collective bargaining issue in his state. i think all governors are going to have to take a look at this and say how dangerous is this for me as i take a look at paring down my state budget. but don't forget, you're also in an election year. unions, while defeated, while labor was defeated in the state of wisconsin, it doesn't mean they're going to be defeated everywhere. but i do think this is a lesson in ground organizing and money. two things that are so important to win campaigns. and i think what you saw the republicans in the state of wisconsin do is raise a lot of mo

walker. i would have liked, in hindsight, and i wrote about it at the time, to see more of a framing about why this recall was necessary. and a part of why it was necessary was because scott walker attacked basic labor rights. the rights of people to organize and to have a voice in the workplace and in our political life. >> all right. so walker and the republicans win. they already got the narrative out there that this is the type of the iceberg. in wisconsin, the good news is the democrats got the senate back. they won one of four senate recall seats. what does that mean? does that mean nothing gets done in wisconsin now and walker can make a bigger play on the national level? >> well, this is election year, and we've had our filings for the fall elections, and so there's going to be a lot of campaigning. but this is the important thing to take away from it. for all of the talk and all of the spin, and certainly, accepting the reality that the governor won his victory last night, the democr

scott walker is already getting his excuses ready. he raised the idea of voter fraud to a conservative weekly standard magazine. he said, quote, you probably have to win with at least 53% of the vote to account for fraud, one or two points potentially. walker also went on fox news today and hit the latest republican talking point about president obama not showing up in wisconsin. >> what do you think of barack obama has not been here? >> i think it's interesting for all the hype. president clinton was here a week ago. i said it's more interesting when the president of the united states is just literally on the other side of the river in minnesota in the twin cities and in chicago. >> he was a marine one trip away. >> walker will need all the excuses he can come up with if he loses. he owns the air waves here in wisconsin. no doubt about it. the walker campaign and supporters have outspent barrett by 7 1/2 to 1. republican national committee chairman is trying to down play the walker money advantage. >> who knows in the end who spent m

scott walker reversed that.ds a message across the country that he was prepared to take them on and win politically. chris christie won in new jersey. >> sean: look at that. while the countedry's being downgraded, our triple-a rating is gone. ohio went up and has 100,000 new jobs, wisconsin has 30,000 you new jobs. christie and bobby jindal t. seems to me what is happening in these states is the prescription for the country overall, the federal government. >> if a conservative takes on the tough issues of debt and deficits, a conservative can win. >> sean: look at what happens. look at how vicious this got. >> absolutely demonized. >> think about it. the democrat it's okay, they sent bill clinton out, who is not singing the same songa the president. remember, the president derided any of the critics against scott walker, he sent his labor secretary and she said, my brothers, my sisters and after they won, joe biden came to the unions and said we owe you, three magic words. where was the white house? where were t

how did walker pull this off? as the raw total came in, it was evident he was going to have a big night. >> republican get out the vote machinery worked and worked in fine style. three keys to winning wisconsin for republicans. one, a combination of milwaukee, which is heavily democrat in big suburban counties of the west. the object there is to keep the margin republican. come out about 20,000 votes down for rinz. right now looks like walker is winning the combination of milwaukee, the city of milwaukee and waukesha county. he won the green bay area running between four and eight points ahead of his 2010 performance then in the counties outside of milwaukee he's running ahead of his performance, then a surprise for me tonight is far western wisconsin he got a lot of democrat rural territory, walk jer winning most of those counties in doing so by margins above what he got in 2010. >> bret: we're looking live at walker campaign headquarters here, still waiting as mike tobin said, that concession call, then, the spe

senator thinks scott walker reforms are working. he will defend his position here tonight. >>> despite getting out spent by outside money, democrats like the reverend jesse jackson say they will turn out the vote in wisconsin. >> if they can march in selma and montgomery, i can march right down the street. >> the civil rights leader joins me live in madison. >>> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. the long road to the recall elections are now over. tomorrow voters will decide the fate of governor scott walker for only the third time in recall election history in this country. a recent university poll has scott walker with a seven-point lead over tom barrett. many democrats are questioning that. the newest poll from public policy polling shows walker only had a three-point lead. i have been in wisconsin this past weekend stopping by in racine and burlington and north milwaukee. there was unbelievable enthusiasm. i don't know how the polls can be judging the heart and desire of the people that i ran into this weekend. there

ron allen at governor walker's headquarters.pprised of what looks to be a very long night wind down tonight. thanks very much. >>> now we're going to go to democratic campaign headquarters for milwaukee mayor tom barrett. he's the challenger to scott walker. his headquarters are in milwaukee. alex, i know this is not your favorite thing in the world to do but we wanted to talk to you. thanks for joining us. >> reporter: thanks for having me. >> what is the barrett campaign telling you about their expectations? ron allen said the republicans are confident they will win. what are you hearing? >> reporter: we're hearing the exact same thing. they said the momentum has been with them the past few days. the mayor really feels like he has a shot at winning this. he was out all day today across the state campaigning. he voted, meeting with folks. they think the exits they have seen show a close race. they know it's going to be a long night. they think they can take this. they will not speak. mayor barrett will not speak until this race

scott walker was a better candidate. better prepared. walker was placed out there better. scott walker had better financing. better infrastructure. so whatever walker did, mitt romney should start taking note. bring those people over. but also, unions got thumped. trumped. they got spanked. spanked by the taxpayer. that is unusual. that hasn't happened in a long time. >> kimberly: that is why obama should be concerned about this. if you think about the tens of millions of dollars put in invested to defeat walker, it was a resounding victory an affirmation for what walker was trying to do. we see other cities and state trying to follow suit. which is significant and a problem with the job numbers for obama in november. >> greg: the fact is walker was elected. he did what he was supposed to do. he got rid of the high-speed train. >> dana: when he got rid of the train, that was telling the federal government we're going to not take $800 million worth of federal funds. we think that the train is bad investment for the state. we are going to walk away from it. the people said w

scott walker is the third u.s.can history and the only one to have survived it. joining us now, john harwood. and "new york times" political writer, thanks for being here, appreciate your time. >> hey, rachel. >> the polling ahead of the election showed scott walker ahead. tom barrett never led in any polls leading into this. especially in the exit polling today, it looked like it was going to be very, very close. in the end, it was not very close. do we know yet what happened? >> i've been trying to figure it out myself. we were expecting a long night. maybe not even a call tonight. not until the morning. and you know, you kept watching the returning come in and the pile got bigger and bigger and walker was up double digits and now, the latest numbers seen show about ten points maybe a little bit less, which is larger than his margin in 2010. so i'm quite surprised and don't know exactly what was often the measurement. whether there was a participation problem with people supporting walker not responding to the ex

and finishing with a win for governor walker. now the battle began when governor walker proposed a law, stripping public unions, but not police and firefighters of their collective barg ang rights. you cannot forget the protests in the capitol of madison. now it's here, live in waukesha at governor walker's campaign headquarters and live at mayor barrett's headquarters. we have a jam-packed show for you. don't go away. reince priebus, and louisiana governor, bobby jindal, and minority leader, peter barca. but first, former alaska governor, sarah palin. good evening, governor. >> hey, greta. how are you, there? >> greta: i am very well. it's been a cliff hanger all day. nobody knew if it would be mayor barrett or governor walker retaining his seat. your thoughts on the news that governor walker is the winner? >> it is such good and encouraging news, gret a. it is good for the country because people are going to recognize through governor walker's efforts that austerity measures, responsible, austerit measures of reigning in govern

how did walker pull this off? as the raw total came in, it was evident he was going to have a big night. >> republican get out the vote machinery worked and worked in fine style. three keys to winning wisconsin for republicans. one, a combination of milwaukee, which is heavily democrat in big suburban counties of the west. the object there is to keep the margin republican. come out about 20,000 votes down for rinz. right now looks like walker is winning the combination of milwaukee, the city of milwaukee and waukesha county. he won the green bay area running between four and eight points ahead of his 2010 performance then in the counties outside of milwaukee he's running ahead of his performance, then a surprise for me tonight is far western wisconsin he got a lot of democrat rural territory, walk jer winning most of those counties in doing so by margins above what he got in 2010. >> bret: we're looking live at walker campaign headquarters here, still waiting as mike tobin said, that concession call, then, the spe

the fact is, walker won. and this is a big victory for the conservative movement not only in wisconsin but america. we can't deny that. and they've got the money on their side. and the people that are behind walker outside of the state, they don't want to see a democratic president again. their mission is to get a supermajority in the senate. keep the majority in the house. win the white house and change this country to their ideology, no matter what any poll says. so what is the message to americans tonight if this is a template on how the rest of the country is going to go? >> i believe it's a pretty damn scary stuff. >> i think the message to americans is a very, very simple one. money can take a dysfunctional and not credible governor and repurpose that person as an electable candidate. if we understand that and recognize that that's what we're up against -- and every progressive in america should -- >> let's go to tom barrett, mayor of milwaukee. >> i couldn't be prouder. i just got off the phone with go

how did walker pull this off? as the raw total came in, it was evident he was going to have a big night. >> republican get out the vote machinery worked and worked in fine style. three keys to winning wisconsin for republicans. one, a combination of milwaukee, which is heavily democrat in big suburban counties of the west. the object there is to keep the margin republican. come out about 20,000 votes down for rinz. right now looks like walker is winning the combination of milwaukee, the city of milwaukee and waukesha county. he won the green bay area running between four and eight points ahead of his 2010 performance then in the counties outside of milwaukee he's running ahead of his performance, then a surprise for me tonight is far western wisconsin he got a lot of democrat rural territory, walk jer winning most of those counties in doing so by margins above what he got in 2010. >> bret: we're looking live at walker campaign headquarters here, still waiting as mike tobin said, that concession call, then, the spe

how did walker pull this off? as the raw total came in, it was evident he was going to have a big night. >> republican get out the vote machinery worked and worked in fine style. three keys to winning wisconsin for republicans. one, a combination of milwaukee, which is heavily democrat in big suburban counties of the west. the object there is to keep the margin republican. come out about 20,000 votes down for rinz. right now looks like walker is winning the combination of milwaukee, the city of milwaukee and waukesha county. he won the green bay area running between four and eight points ahead of his 2010 performance then in the counties outside of milwaukee he's running ahead of his performance, then a surprise for me tonight is far western wisconsin he got a lot of democrat rural territory, walk jer winning most of those counties in doing so by margins above what he got in 2010. >> bret: we're looking live at walker campaign headquarters here, still waiting as mike tobin said, that concession call, then, the spe

sentiment and after over a year of campaigning to recall governor walker voters go to the polls today to decide whether or not walker should stay or go his combat there is no walking mayor and democratic candidate tom barrett and it's not surprising that the entire country is intensely focused on this race is a microcosm of the nationwide debate between democrats and republicans that's waging it represents the debate over economic policy the ideological differences between these two parties and it's also giving us a preview of dirty tricks that we might see in november there have been reports of the walker campaign is making robo calls to voters telling them that signing the recall petition counts as voting and at the top of the show. we just told you about the possible suppression of student voters likely democrats are democrats themselves are also prepared to slog it out they have four hundred forty lawyers at their disposal prepared to challenge election results so whatever happens the vote and i probably won't be pretty kind of like the november election is expected to be but in o

scott walker is the incumbent republican governor. this is a race to recall him, to remove him from office. based on the exit polls that we've been conducting throughout the day. right now the exit polls show it's 50% for walker, 50% for barrett. doesn't get much closer than this. obviously we are in no prediction to make a projection of the winner in this race. also by the way for the lieutenant governor race, the lieutenant governor rebecca clayfish. she is also being -- there's a recall election for her. and mitchell, the democratic challenger. 50/50 in that race as well. based on the polls we're getting. john king is at the magic wall. john, it's suggested we're going to be working a long night tonight if it's as close as the exit polls suggest. >> let's take a deeper look at more exit poll questions. let's look deeper see if we can learn anything about the electorate in wisconsin tonight. number one, you have city voters, urban voters, and rural voters. let's see how they're voting tonight. you see a big win for the democrat ther

. ♪ governor walker, good night from wisconsin. >> bret: scott walker becomes the first governor to survive recall vote. the numbers and what they mean, next. this is a special election night edition of "special report". >> good evening, i'm bret baier, two times in american politics prior to tonight sitting governors have faced the wrath of voters in recall elections. until this evening, no governor had ever survived. but wisconsin's scott walker made history tonight. soundly defeating democratic mayor tom barrett in an election that drew millions of dollars from all over the country. good evening, mike. >> and that is very exciting here on the inside, bret. reaction we got from governor walker so far came in the form of an e-mailed statement. he said bringing the state back together will take time, but he's ready to start the work. we did get reaction from the lieutenant governor who took the stage here with her husband, scott and daughters in the background. >> now, this is what democracy looks like! friends, years from now, they will say the campaign to save america began tonight. in wi

governor walker, good night from wisconsin. >> bret: scott walker becomes the first governor to survive a recall vote. >>> wisconsin's scott walker becomes the first to survive a this is a special election night edition of "special report". >> good evening, i'm bret baier, two times in american politics prior to tonight sitting governors have faced the wrath of voters in recall elections. until this evening, no governor had ever survived. but wisconsin's scott walker made history tonight. soundly defeating democratic mayor tom barrett in an election that drew millions of dollars from all over the country. good evening, mike. >> and that is very exciting here on the inside, bret. reaction we got from governor walker so far came in the form of an e-mailed statement. he said bringing the state back together will take time, but he's ready to start the work. we did get reaction from the lieutenant governor who took the stage here with her husband, scott and daughters in the background. >> now, this is what democracy looks like! friends, years from now, they will say the campaign to save amer

going to take a look at wisconsin where a number of big votes are going down including at scott walker's recall archies christine going to fill us in on the details from the ground and speak with the young turks about the role that money has played in this political battle then tony shaffer is going to join us to talk about expanded drone strikes in pakistan where as we mentioned yesterday rescuers and mourners became targets u.s. officials say they got his number two guy but doesn't that just mean that there'll be another one soon we're going to all of that and more theater night including it does of happy hour but first take a look what the mainstream media decided to make. both content is definitely a big story today and the mainstream media has given it plenty of coverage but there's just one other thing that is absolutely taken over your television screen and i'm not getting if you were trying to get a pulse of what was going on in the world this morning you were out of luck because the networks were just going completely nuts over the queen's jubilee. millions of queen elizabeth th

governor walker, good night from wisconsin. >> bret: scott walker becomes the first governor to survive a recall vote. the numbers and what they mean, next. this is a special election night edition of "special report". >> good evening, i'm bret baier, two times in american politics prior to tonight sitting governors have faced the wrath of voters in recall elections. until this evening, no governor had ever survived. but wisconsin's scott walker made history tonight. soundly defeating democratic mayor tom barrett in an election that drew millions of dollars from all over the country. good evening, mike. >> and that is very exciting here on the inside, bret. reaction we got from governor walker so far came in the form of an e-mailed statement. he said bringing the state back together will take time, but he's ready to start the work. we did get reaction from the lieutenant governor who took the stage here with her husband, scott and daughters in the background. >> now, this is what democracy looks like! friends, years from now, they will say the campaign to save america began tonight. in

stick around for bret and governor walker, good night from wisconsin. >> bret: scott walker becomes the first governor to survive a recall vote. the numbers and what they mean, next. this is a special election night edition of "special report". >> good evening, i'm bret baier, two times in american politics prior to tonight sitting governors have faced the wrath of voters in recall elections. until this evening, no governor had ever survived. but wisconsin's scott walker made history tonight. soundly defeating democratic mayor tom barrett in an election that drew millions of dollars from all over the country. good evening, mike. >> and that is very exciting here on the inside, bret. reaction we got from governor walker so far came in the form of an e-mailed statement. he said bringing the state back together will take time, but he's ready to start the work. we did get reaction from the lieutenant governor who took the stage here with her husband, scott and daughters in the background. >> now, this is what democracy looks like! friends, years from now, they will say the campaign to save

he supports governor walker.ed by robert kraig, executive director of citizens action wisconsin. richard esenberg, welcome to "democracy now!" we will start with you. robert kraig as well. richard esenberg, talk about prospects for governor walker and why you think he should remain in his job as governor. >> what frustrates us a much about our politicians is they are afraid to make tough decisions. governor walker was elected in 2010 in the state faced billions of dollars in budget shortfall. they cannot deficit spend. walker made the decision he wanted to close the gap on a cash basis, but not raise taxes in the state that already has high taxes and below average national income. rather than simply cut services, although there was service reduction, he did that i tried to bend the cost curve of government not only by reducing the benefits of public employees, but by restricting collective bargaining in a way which gave local units of government and state government and opportunity to reduce costs without drastic

scott walker won by 70%. we're going to watch it all play out in the hours ahead nap does it for this edition of "360." we'll be pack here 10:00 p.m. with the latest from wisconsin. for now "piers morgan tonight" starts now. >>> good evening i'm wolf blitzer in for piers morgamorga. we begin with breaking news out of wisconsin right now where polls have just closed. the recall vote that could preview november's election. look at this. our exit polls show it's a 50/50 race as of this minute. these are exit polls, the polls we conducted throughout the day, throughout the state of wisconsin. these are preliminary exit poll results. 50% for scott walker. he's on the left of your screen. 50% for tom barrett, the democrat, the mayor of milwaukee. he's on the right. scott walker is the incumbent republican governor. this is a race to recall him, to remove him from office. based on the exit polls that we've been conducting throughout the day. right now the exit polls show it's 50% for walker, 50% for barrett. doesn't