I agree that any obituary for a political party is premature. Remember, the conservative movement was dead in January 2009. November 2010 saw a Republican tidal wave. The left can come back from this. But I truly don't see how. True, nobody saw the Tea Party Movement coming. It took a flash point moment on CNBC. 

But wasn't Act 10 the liberal equivalent of that? In other words, does it make sense to expect a Tea Party Moment from the left when what we just went through seems pretty similar to the birth of the Tea Party Movement? But the first test of the TPM's strength was November 2010 and it passed with flying colors.

The TPM was declared dead and has risen from the ashes in America's Dairyland. The liberal movement in Wisconsin just lost its 4th election in a row, if you count November 2010. It's last chance for a birthing moment became the Tea Party's resurrection, not just in Wisconsin, but nationally.

One possibility: Right to Work, which Governor Walker has made clear he doesn't want to touch with a ten foot pole, despite co-sponsoring RTW legislation as a state lawmaker int he '90s. Short of that, I don't see a liberal seminal moment in the making. In reality, another drubbing in November probably creates the best envrionment for liberals to try to regroup in 2013, the way conservatives did in 2010. I'm willing to take the chance.