Democrats unhappy with the GOP's stand against labor unions in Wisconsin huffed, they puffed and they brought in millions of dollars and hundreds of outside "volunteers". They targeted recall campaigns for six of the most vulnerable state Senate districts in what was a normally a reliable Democratic state. Polling showed leads in at least four of the six, including two by double-digit margins, while Republicans were barely clinging on in the other two.

While it seemed their plan couldn't fail, that's exactly what happened.

Democratic efforts to flip enough Senate districts to overcome the GOP's 19-14 majority fell short. Republicans held onto four of the six targeted races and carried just under 53% of all votes cast in the recall elections.

Democrats struggled to win two seats by single-digit margins that should have been easy wins - one went heavily for Obama in 2008 and the other was a swing district held by a Senator going through a highly-publicized and somewhat messy divorce. Clearly things did not go according to plan for the Democrats and their labor union allies.

While polling showed Democrats in strong positions for the recall votes, late-breaking voters seemed to favor Republicans. Late polling showed Democrats leading by double-digit margins for the two seats they won by single-digit margins. It also showed four of the six targeted Republicans either trailing or leading by single dight margins, while three of them ended up winning by double-digit margins.

Next Tuesday, two Democratic Senators face recall votes, one of which could tip to the GOP, leaving the status quo essentially unchanged until next year's elections.

With Republicans having just passed legislative redistricting plans for the state legislature, tonight's recall votes may prove to be the high-water mark of Democratic efforts to challenge the Wisconsin's GOP leadership, as well as for the well-funded national-level union payback activities that focused upon Wisconsin while allowing legislatures in other states, including Massachusetts, to push through similar checks upon public-sector unions with almost no resistance.

The winning side in tonight's recall votes argued that in a tough time, government has to make its share of sacrifices and that it was unfair for those in the private sector to carry all the burdens during the ongoing recession. If this message can prevail with voters in Democratic-leaning state, it's one which needs to be heard more clearly in Washington.