It is disappointing to realize that despite one of the most astonishing grassroots electoral efforts this country has seen in decades, Scott Walker is still the governor of Wisconsin. But it's important to put yesterday's outcome in perspective. Scott Walker and his right-wing cronies have spent more than a year and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to crush the labor movement in Wisconsin. And we just keep coming back at him.

Make no mistake about it, no one other than the labor movement could have spearheaded a campaign like this and come so close to recalling a sitting Governor. We collected more than 1 million signatures to make the recall happen, and then went out and knocked on doors, made phone calls, and rocked Wisconsin politics to its core. We had already succeeded in historic recall elections of two of the senators who backed Walker's union-busting. And yesterday, we succeeded in recalling one more.

Wisconsin workers and their unions, along with their community allies, came close to making Walker only the third governor in U.S. history to be recalled during his term. The Wisconsin vote puts other governors and elected officials on notice that organized labor will not go quietly into the night. It sends a message that every elected official will now have to think more than twice about taking away workers' rights. Anyone who cares about fairness, about social justice and about the rights of workers owes a debt to the courageous men and women in Wisconsin. First and foremost, we owe ours to our fellow AFSCME members in Wisconsin who have fought on in the face of the most daunting challenges.

They had support on the ground from scores of AFSCME members who came to Wisconsin from around the country--and from thousands more who couldn't make the trip, but helped with financial contributions, phone banking, and solidarity actions.

The folks in Wisconsin aren't going to give up now-and neither are any of us who've been standing with them. We'll be back. In 2014 it is unlikely Walker will have a $50 million war chest supplied by billionaires. And he certainly won't have the votes of those who voted for him this time only because they think an elected governor should fill out his term. We will be back!

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