Haven’t had time to do a proper follow up here, but as is well known, the Democrats in my home state only got two-thirds of the way up the mountain Tuesday night, then were shoved back.

Democrats won two of six Senate recall elections. To have a chance at taking the majority, they needed at least three of six.

Happily, the spotty record of the Waukesha County clerk does not appear to have been a factor. In fact, Democrats’ assertions that she manipulated the results have been condemned by PolitiFact Wisconsin.

I did have a running conversation on my Facebook page the night of the election, which I didn’t copy here at the time. So just for the record, I will do so now.

My original FB posts are in boldface, the conversations with readers are in plain italics. The are printed in the reverse order that they were published, with the newest listed first.

AP declares GOP incumbent Darling the winner in WI District 8. If that holds, the Dems have failed to flip the state Senate.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 12:28am

Brenda Daly: This recall election is part of an American tragedy. What happened to “give me your tired, your poor”? What happened to support of unions? Why do Americans want to support only corporations and the rich??? I don’t get it.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 9:13am

Kevin Featherly: I think a lot of it is resentment. Bargaining rights have been sliced away for more than 30 years. More than a generation of workers has come of age without those rights. They see only public employees and professional athletes still retaining those rights and they say, “I don’t get those benefits. Why should those bastards?”
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 9:40am
(Joel Ryan likes this.)

Joel Ryan: Can’t underestimate the antipathy against teachers.
19 hours ago

***

WI District 8’s recall results are still not in, but most of Waukesha County’s results are. Despite protests of hanky-panky on the part of the Waukesa County clerk, this time, it’s Milwaukee County that is holding up the train.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 12:22am

***

Waukesha County’s returns are missing in the Wisconsin Senate District 8 race, where at the moment Democrat Sandy Pasch is beating Republican Alberta Darling by 4 percent.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 10:49pm

David Breeden: Yessss. We’ve seen this sort of thing before.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 12:18am

***

MSNBC declares Democrat Jessica King the winner in Wisconsin Senate District 18.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 10:44pm
(Ronald Duff Martin and Jack Cosgrove like this.)

Jack Cosgrove: Sweet! I hope there are many more wins.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 10:47pm

Brenda Daly: I’ve heard that all the Dems lost. Maybe I heard wrong??
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 9:13am

Kevin Featherly: You heard wrong. Two won. But they needed three.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 9:32am

…

King now leads by 100 votes, 87 percent reporting in Wisconsin Senate District 18. With two other Democrats leading their recall elections, this race could well determine the balance of power in the state Senate.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 10:10pm

Joel Ryan: Looks like Darling will prevail, Kevin.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 11:39pm · Like

…

Republican Randy Hopper pulls ahead in Wisconsin District 18, with 79 percent reporting, Journal Sentinel reports. Just 2 percentage points separate him from Democrat Jessica King.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 10:05pm

…

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel now has Democrats leading in three of the four undeclared recall races.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 9:44pm