Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has made the next move in the Battle of Mad Town:

According to the Wisconsin senate majority leader, the Governor’s office is sending out state troopers to go after Wisconsin’s Democratic Senate members to bring in a vote on Governor Walker’s budget bill which would dramatically limit government workers union’s ability to negotiate many of their benefits.

“They are prepared to dispatch state troopers to go out to some of the residences of some of the senators,” said Republican State Senator Scott Fitzgerald on Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s “Midday with Charlie Sykes.”

“We don’t know that everybody is out of state.  These troopers are going to go and try to escort these senators back to the chamber.”

Democrats did show up for the Assembly this morning on time, but that won’t make much difference.  Without the Senate, the legislature cannot act on any issue at all.  According to one legislator caught on tape running away from a Tea Party activist, Bob Jauch, none of them know for sure when they’ll come back:

Several Democratic senators declined to comment on how long they’d stay away from the Capitol. Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) said late Thursday the decision on when to return had not been made yet.

This may be an exercise in futility.  The budget is due by the end of June, which means that Walker has four months to get the Senate back to a quorum.  Can these legislators stand to stay outside of Wisconsin for that long?  Will their families put up with the nonsense for that long?  Will their constituents?

Walker isn’t kidding around.  And the longer Democrats refuse to participate in the legislative process, the more their petulance will erode their already-faltering standing among voters who take elections seriously.