14 Democrats Who Left the State

Following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln—who in 1840 jumped out of a second-story window of the Illinois state Capitol to deprive the Illinois House of Representatives of a quorum—14 Democratic senators left Wisconsin in an effort to slow down a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's public employee union-busting bill. And even though Republicans tried every trick in the book to divide them, arrest them, lure them back to the state under false pretenses, or recall them from office, all of the Fab 14 stood strong and are still serving their constituents. We hope that Wisconsin never has to go through the kind of political chaos we endured earlier this year. But it's nice to know that at least 14 public servants are willing to do what it takes to protect the common good.