WASHINGTON (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker's definitive victory in Wisconsin's recall election is already reverberating in other state capitals. It exposed the shrunken political muscle of the unions that tried to oust him, underscoring their vulnerability to attacks from the right and inability to retaliate.

Republicans in some nearby states where anti-union measures failed this year say they now plan to use Walker's victory to mount renewed efforts in 2013.

Instead of ejecting the Republican who slashed state and local government workers' job benefits and bargaining rights, the union-instigated recall has made Walker a heroic model for conservatives five months before the November election.

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