Page 21 - What Walker News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

These issues and i think in the long run, labor is going to win. >> you know, one thing that's strong against your argument, bob, is that the fact is since mitch daniels got rid of collective bargaining for his state worker six years ago, he saved about $100 million for his state and he has a balanced budget. does that work to your case, ned? >> yeah, it does, exactly. if i could go back and address the point, this has nothing to do with the koch brothers. this is about the tea partiers in wisconsin and across the nation really providing the counterbalance to the public sector union but behind...

>> all right, steve, what's happening in wisconsin? affecting every one of the 50 states. those states going after collective bargaining. should they have the option to begin with? is that the debate going on? joining us is the founder and president of the new american majority and bob edgar is also here, a former u.s. congressman out of pennsylvania and president of common cause. first to you, ned ryan. do you see this as a bigger argument than just -- than just walker against the unions? >> oh, absolutely. i think wisconsin is the beginning point of what could be the catalyst for a national ...

What walker is really about here is a political strategy, not a budget-balancing strategy. and i think ultimately that's part of what has been turning the tide against the republicans on this issue. that you know, there's a fundamental fairness issue that people just don't like. >> robert, let's go to the maps on this, though, because in the mid-terms republicans were hoping to win as many as 20 governorships from the democrats. they ended up taking 12, and that included an impressive sweep for rust belt states with heavy union influence. we've got ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. ...

Constantly as the new ronald reagan. that overlooked little institution known as the republican party is building their national strategy, their national reconstruction around what's going on in wisconsin, around wisconsin republicans under the leadership of the guy who used to run the party in that state and around the idea of scott walker. this fight to strip union rights is how they are trying to rebuild the national republican party. and this fight to strip union rights in wisconsin that they are building everything on, this fight is not going very well. and that would just be a state-leve...

Institution known as the republican party is building their national strategy, their national reconstruction, around what's going on in wisconsin, around wisconsin republicans. under the leadership of reince priebus, the guy who used to run the party in that state, and around the idea of scott walker. this fight to strip union rielts is how they are trying to rebuild the national republican party. and this fight to strip union rights in wisconsin that they are building everything on, this fight is not going very well. and that would just be a state-level story about wisconsin if this was a sta...