So why am I facing a recall election? Simple: the big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don't like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker; something that's truly about freedom.

We are the ones looking out for the middle class. Who do think pays for the endless expansion of government? Its middle class taxpayers. Our reforms protect middle class taxpayers.

Looking at America's history, ordinary people did something extraordinary. Leaders risked their lives for freedoms that we take for granted today.That's what instills confidence. That's us. We will move forward and prosper because that's who we are as Americans.

If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.

There could not be a more stark contrast between Wisconsin and Illinois.

I'm not so in with the prescriptive avant-garde agenda. I can do that sort of thing, but I feel that I'm still interested enough in song structure. When I look at a lyric on the page, the lyric is alive to me, looking like soldiers in a field. I can move it around, and it's very black-and-white.

Like many places across the country, Wisconsin lost more than 100,000 jobs from 2008 to 2010. Unemployment during that time topped out at over 9%.