James Smith said that, at first, he was worried about a backlash. "No one protested my house yet," he said. "I thought that was coming for sure this weekend."

A 25-year-old behemoth redhead, Smith works as a technician at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center. His Facebook page says he's a fan of Rachel Maddow. His real Facebook page describes him very differently. He's a Republican who is running for office in Wisconsin. He's a would-be spoiler.

What Smith doesn't know is that he is being sacrificed, like so much else, by a rogue Wisconsin Republican Party determined to monetize as much of the state as possible before everyone gets [...]

What happened last night in Madison, Wisconsin? According to Fox Nation, "Rabid Leftists Storm Wisconsin Capitol After Vote"! If only. Perhaps better characterized as a large community of shocked and betrayed workers? (Who are not unlikely to have a victory in court, some months and years from now.) Above is a picture of the "rabid leftists" currently "storming" the Capitol in Madison this morning. (Actually: patiently waiting for the building to open.) Here they are knocking on the locked doors, just now. Don't they look like wingnuts? Or maybe more like middle-aged working people. Last night, says the local paper, "Thousands of protesters rushed to [...]

The Capitol in Madison has become Kafkaesque. On Sunday, an order that the building be cleared by 4 p.m. brought hundreds (maybe thousands) flooding into the dome in the afternoon. A good many of these protesters had taken the measure that identified them as prepared to be arrested: ACLU's phone number written on a body part, in ink.

But then, nothing happened. The night passed. Some were lulled into believing the order had come and gone, and left in the morning, confident they would be allowed entry later. This included Teaching Assistants' Association co-head Kevin Gibbons, with whom we spoke last week.

Suckers.

Hundreds of protesters moved down the sidewalk and turned onto Doty Street, but I already knew where they were headed. I'd already been thrown out of 10 East Doty three hours earlier, for absolutely nothing more than asking how to get to the seventh floor. That's where you find suite 703, home of Koch Companies Public Sector LLC.

Yesterday's demonstration outside the Koch offices represents an evolution in the thinking behind the protests in Madison: a leap from the political to the private. Until now, Governor Scott Walker and other Republican representatives have been the sole target of the demonstrations. Sure, calls have come for a boycott of [...]

Vicki McKenna is a conservative radio talk show host for Madison's WISN and WIBA. You can see her here on her personal website, tastefully and patriotically wrapped in an American flag.

Every day, McKenna's program calls her "a voice of reason in a city of chaos." Madison. Madison, Wisconsin! "A city of chaos." She's one of the star conservative voices in the region. Michelle Malkin endorses her as "The only voice we have in Madison."

The recent protests against Governor Scott Walker's proposal to bust up the pubic service unions has McKenna in a frenzy. Just before tweeting "FIRE THEM ALL" as a [...]

On Wednesday night, Wisconsin's state senate amended Governor Scott Walker's budget bill and speedily voted it through, using a loophole that made a quorum unnecessary. Just 24 hours later, after a couple hours of "discussions" that turned the assembly chamber into a straw man carnival and included a motion to remove the majority speaker on the grounds of "impaired judgment," the Assembly voted to pass the bill. Walker will sign off, after some legal questions are answered. There will be lawsuits, and consequences.

"Elections have consequences" was the hammer used to drive the spike that has now severed union employees from collective bargaining. So that is now the call [...]

Scott Walker's budget address to the Wisconsin legislature on Tuesday was a circus—except inside the assembly chamber, where the governor enjoyed a resoundingly warm reception. This reception was suspiciously affectionate: on Wednesday, we looked at the makeup of the west gallery audience, where attendees—every one of them—stood and cheered most loudly during the address.

What kind of special access was granted to the assembly chamber that day? How did everyone get in? Let's look at Larry Meade, blogger and also spouse of Ann Althouse, the most influential conservative blogger in the region and a UW-Madison law professor, where she teaches Constitutional Law I and other [...]

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#wiunion capitol staffers confirm that lobbyists were let into building and firefighters and public denied access.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneThe Way Forward WITheWayForwardWI

It's been a long day in Wisconsin. People say they're blocking some windows at the Madison Capitol building to keep food and people (presumably) from being brought in and out. And here are the [...]

Early this afternoon we turned off the link to make donations to protestors in Madison, Wisconsin, because, yikes, there is only so much food and whatnots we can deliver! We were kind of expecting a few hundred dollars? Well…

Total donations, after fees taken: $2,272.46. This means pre-fee donations were around $2,340, so I donated $68.17 myself to eradicate them, so none of your kindly-given money is getting skimmed by Paypal. (Fun facts: smallest donation: $1.50; largest: $100. Average was probably around $12.)

Abe Sauer will report back from his (multiple and ongoing) shopping trips and deliveries to people demonstrating in Madison. He's being joined by his brother and [...]

We've published a lot over the last couple weeks about the battle in Wisconsin over labor, and nearly always been critical of Scott Walker and the Republicans. So I found a reasonable 20-something Wisconsinite named Sarah Helms, who was willing to explain her support for Scott Walker and his bill. Her answers have not been edited at all.

The Awl: Where do you live, work?

Sarah: I'm currently unemployed since returning from my tour in Afghanistan. I'm planning on starting school next semester. I live in Madison, WI.

The Awl: How would you sum up your reasons for supporting the bill? 

Sarah: From what I've read [...]

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's budget address was delivered beneath a dead and stuffed eagle. His address made commitments to a better educated Wisconsin, even while offering almost guaranteed decreased funding of the state's schools. He criticized the state's wasteful use of "our tobacco settlement," and then minutes later praised, for his "bold new ideas and strong leadership," former Republican Tommy Thompson—the state's key architect of that tobacco settlement spending.

He twice passed into reverence for "our state's constitution," even while it was being broken two floors below him: the Capitol's doors were still locked.

One possible reason for why the doors remained locked to Wisconsin citizens [...]

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RT @ddayen: Crowds outside capitol begin massive chant of "let them in" as Capitol Police block access to the building #wiunionMon Feb 28 15:52:29 via HootSuiteWEACWEAC

Confusing situation happening at the Madison Capitol this morning. Protestors who slept in the building last night are still inside; people wanting to come in are being prevented from doing so. Tomorrow is Governor Scott Walker's budget address, you see! As we know first-hand, the protests in Madison have been peaceful, clean, well-organized and friendly, despite whatever lies [...]

Read all of our Wisconsin coverage here.

It's already been a long weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. Protesters slept on the capitol floor and some Republican state legislators, after attempting to hold an illegal vote on Friday, made excuses for why they would not be seen in the communities they represent.

Republican Senator Alberta Darling canceled her weekend plans to attend an event in Menomonee Falls, a city she represents. She tweeted, "I will not be attending ChillyFest in MF tomorrow. I have to be ready at a moment's notice to go back to Madison to do the people's work." Maybe because she was born in [...]