Before his recall election, Walker accepted an invitation from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to speak in Springfield about his reform agenda. Doing so in enemy territory – Democrats have long had majority rule in the Illinois legislature – had great symbolic meaning: Not only does the state suffer from the worst pension crisis in the US, downgrades to its bond rating, historically high property taxes, and a higher unemployment rate than Wisconsin's, but Illinois is also ground zero for Mr. Obama’s base. “In Wisconsin, we don’t have any of these problems,” he writes.
Seth Perlman/AP/File
