on the Republican side, another state Senator has stressed his willingness to be flexible. As you know, Republicans control the Senate 19-14, so a shift of only three on this issue would change the balance of power. Sen. Dale Schultz (R) has already called for compromise and basically said he’d oppose the bill. Now we have Sen. Rob Cowles.

If Senate Democrats needed a shot of extra resolve to continue to block the plans of Scott Walker, they just got it. . . from Walker himself.

Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller has had his staff hand-deliver a letter to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Governor Scott Walker, seeking a meeting at the Illinois-Wisconsin border to resolve the impasse over the proposal to strip public employee collective bargaining rights. Discussions have been ongoing but apparently faltered last Thursday, and this offer is an effort to restart them. (update: Walker rejects Miller out-of-hand.)

Miller’s spokesman’s full statement reflects the attitudes of Wisconsin’s Fab 14 since they left the state Feb. 17. They want to return to negotiate. The Governor won’t go that route. So, they remain in Illinois.

Scott Walker is boxed in. He missed his chance to claim victory when public employee unions agreed to his health care and pension concessions, essentially agreeing to a 7% pay cut. But Walker wanted it all.

Among households with children in the public school system, only 32% approve of the governor’s performance. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disapprove, including 54% who Strongly Disapprove.

The protests will look very different from what occurred over the past couple weeks. But protesters still have the moral high ground. Look no further for evidence of that than this appalling display last night, when Capitol Police forcefully tackled State Rep. Nick Milroy (D). The police said they thought he was one of the protesters. In fact, he was going to his office.

Scott Walker has been threatening public workers with layoff notices for a solid week, so another threat isn’t surprising. This time the deadline is tomorrow. Before it was last Friday. And then Tuesday.

So what is surprising? That there’s talk of compromise in the air.

The Wisconsin State Democratic Party just sent out an email to supporters announcing that they have officially filed recall papers against all eight Republican Senators eligible for recall immediately. Depending on their success in gathering enough signatures – and the threshold is not too high, they need between 14,000 and 20,000 signatures in the various districts – the State Senate will be up for grabs in Wisconsin as early as this year.

The reality of Scott Walker’s two-year budget is setting in, and people have begun to connect the dots.