The best way to describe a vote for Jessica King in Tuesday's recall election is comparing it to pulling the emergency brake on a runaway train. It is a jarring move taken out of necessity in the hopes of avoiding a larger disaster. Sending King to the senate will help put the brakes on Wisconsin's sharp turn to the right that threatens to fundamentally change the state for the worse.

This newspaper did not support the state senate recall drives, arguing the constitutional mechanism was not correctly applied because no malfeasance or ethical violations were at issue. The fact remains that recall petitions met the legal requirements in nine senate districts, including six Republican and three Democratic senators.

On Tuesday, voters have the option of retaining the 18th Senate District incumbent, Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Empire, or replacing him with King, a Democrat. Under no circumstances would we recommend citizens stay at home and shirk their democratic duty to make their voices heard at the polls, even if we disagree with the rationale for the vote.

Voters must choose between two flawed candidates. King, an Oshkosh attorney, fails to present a blueprint of how she'd balance a state budget with a $3.6 billion deficit. Nor does she articulate a comprehensive strategy for addressing a myriad of issues facing the state. Her shortcomings, however, must be weighed against Hopper's record and the agenda his party will enact if it retains control of the legislature. Let's start with scaling back collective bargaining for most public employee unions, the issue that sparked the recall drives.

Gov. Scott Walker ran on a platform of asking government workers to pay a greater share of their health and pension costs. He told the editorial board in late October he would accomplish that through tough negotiations with union leaders, contrasting concessions with the need for large-scale layoffs of workers without cost savings. We think asking workers to contribute a greater share of costs was fair and justified, but disagree with the steps the governor took in February. In fact, when we endorsed Walker, we cautioned: "Walker's ultimate success as governor will depend greatly on his ability to work constructively with state employees. He must not fall into the trap of demonizing state workers."

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