Democrats Leaving Wisconsin to Halt Vote

As Wisconsin’s public workers demonstrate in Madison against a controversial bill to cut benefits, another group on the state payroll is leaving town: Democratic lawmakers. The bill, proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, would hit teachers and other public-sector workers hard, and Democrats don’t have the votes to stop it—despite President Obama criticizing the bill as “an assault on public unions”. So they’ve just up and left the Badger State, although they won’t say where. Without at least one Democrat present, Republicans can’t vote on the issue, and Democrats are hoping the last-ditch strategy will bring the GOP back to the bargaining table.