MILWAUKEE — The setback that Democrats and their labor allies suffered in the battle to reclaim Wisconsin underscores the challenge they and President Obama face as both parties gird for the 2012 election.

Tuesday’s election – an attempt to recall six Republican state senators – was the first test of voter sentiment since the summer’s debate over the national debt and the renewed stalling of the economy. Strategists on both sides were watching the contests as an early showdown on the economic themes likely to propel next year’s campaigns.

After elections in 2006 and 2008 that went heavily to Democrats and a 2010 contest dominated by Republicans, the results provided a snapshot of an electorate in between – highly polarized, closely divided, with hardened political positions. The voting presages a 2012 election season likely to be one of the most hard-fought in a decade.

The recalls drew more than $30 million in campaign spending, an enormous amount for off-year state legislative races, and generated robust turnout on both sides.

The outcome was close and in doubt until the end. Even Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling, whose victory in the Milwaukee suburbs guaranteed that the Republicans would keep control of the state Senate, acknowledged she […]