The latest National Review offers a clue about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s resolve in dealing with public-sector union protesters:

Walker shrugged off the noise. “Those tens of thousands of protesters have every right to be heard,” he told me. “But there are 5.5 million people in this state, and those taxpayers also have a right to be heard. I, for one, am not going to let the protesters overshadow, or shout out, the interest of the state’s taxpayers. And I believe that they are with us in trying to balance this budget.”

Indeed, Walker sees his brawl with union bosses as an important testing ground for other governors dealing with in-the-red budgets. “I was talking to former governor Tommy Thompson about this the other day,” he said, his hands clasped. “Wisconsin set the table back in the Nineties on welfare reform. We were a leader there, and we were a leader on education reform. Now we are talking about budgetary and fiscal reform. Wisconsin, in many cases, sets the pace.”