Tonight, I received a crowing e-mail from astro-turf leaders Americans For Prosperity (bankrolled and led by billionaire oil industry brothers) that had me racing to Google News.  AFP is declaring victory on the Employee Free Choice Act, claiming credit for Harry Reid's comment today that EFCA ("Card Check") won't be on the Senate's plate during the last four months of this year. 

Sure enough, here are the couple of sentences in the Las Vegas Review Journal today:

Reid also said the Employee Free Choice Act, designed to help unions organize more easily through card-check votes and mandatory binding arbitration, has fallen off the Senate's radar for now.

"We have too many other things on our plate," he said.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/55332617.html

Roll Call adds that it is unlikely that he would bring it up for a vote even if the schedule suddenly cleared.  http://www.rollcall.com/news/37994-1.html

Here's the AFP's e-mail:

Dear ,

Ever wonder if we can win tough public policy battles like health care and cap-and-trade?

Well, today we scored a big victory on a crucial issue that looked impossible just a few months ago.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the outrageously mis-named Employee Free Choice Act -- or Card Check -- is NOT going to be brought to a vote this year!

Card Check would effectively take the secret ballot away from American workers when it comes to deciding whether or not they want to join a union. It would take a cherished freedom away from millions of Americans, and at Americans for Prosperity we've been fighting it tooth-and-nail throughout the year.

A few months ago, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and their Big Labor allies were confident of passing this legislation, which would dramatically expand the power of unions by giving them millions of new union members along with their "forced dues."

We launched a "Save Our Secret Ballot" effort with rallies in key states like Pennsylvania (where union organizers aggressively attacked us), North Carolina, Arkansas and Virginia. We urged grassroots activists like you to call and email your Senators and House members. AFP was one of several free-market groups who took up the fight to stop this union power grab. TO SEE PHOTOS AND COVERAGE OF OUR GRASSROOTS EVENTS CLICK HERE.

Faced with this grassroots uprising, the big-government side had to back away -- and today they did.

So, we should take heart! Yes, we face a big challenge on stopping the health care takeover. Sure, the cap-and-trade battle is not easy. But, if we fight aggressively, fight hard and remain committed we can win -- just like we won the Card Check battle.

Today, I was in Wisconsin where Americans for Prosperity Foundation hosted a series of Town Hall meetings across this great state with special guest John Stossel of ABC's "20/20". AFP Foundation provided citizens with a forum to discuss a government takeover of health care. The crowds were huge and energetic: 1,900 in Madison (last night), 500 in La Crosse today and over 1,200 earlier this evening in Wausau, which is the home district of House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, who has refused to hold town hall meetings with his constituents.

***

I'm a bit surprised that - even with so much of our attention elsewhere - this only merited a story in Roll Call.  But, I have a feeling that more media outlets will pick this up as the right wing starts to crow loudly about it over the next couple of days.