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America's political class was Wednesday learning a new lesson in the power of money -- and the possibly decisive impact of unfettered millions of dollars on November's battle for the White House.

All eyes were on Wisconsin, for years a Democratic-leaning battleground, now a test bed for a new era of unlimited cash in US politics, where a union-busting Republican governor Tuesday repelled an ouster bid.

Scott Walker's triumph in a recall election over Democrat Tom Barrett will be picked apart for hints of how the state, and the nation, will go when President Barack Obama meets Mitt Romney in November.

While political consultants, campaign cash moguls and pundits poured over the smoldering tea leaves from Wisconsin, one thing was certain: the race was awash in cash.

The vote was a key test of a Supreme Court ruling tearing down limits on campaign spending by corporations, unions, other groups and rich individuals.

"The big picture here, is that the Citizens United court case has opened the floodgates for really wealthy donors, conservative donors," said Clyde Wilcox, a political science professor at Georgetown University.

Such donors "see the chance to actually reshape public policy by just unlimited spending."

Walker won the recall by 53 percent to 46 percent but the money race was not even close. A stunning $63.5 million was splashed on the election, nearly double the amount spent in the same gubernatorial match-up two years ago.

The Center for Public Integrity said Walker outspent his foe by more than seven to one after raising more than 30 million dollars for his campaign, much from out of state, backed by more than $16 million in spending by outside groups.

By comparison, Milwaukee mayor Barrett raised $3.9 million and fared poorly with backing from independent groups.

Big Walker donors included millionaires, billionaires and out of state business titans, with deep pockets sure to be tapped again in November.

The contest is an example of "what will likely continue to happen with regard to campaign spending in the post-Citizens United world," said

Kathleen Dolan, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin.

Robert Borosage of the liberal Campaign for America's future said money not only floods airwaves with ads, it helps candidates organize.

"Wisconsin is a sterling example of what elections will be: the power of mobilized right-wing and corporate money against the power of mobilized people."

Therein may lay the most salient warning for Obama's campaign.

November is shaping up as a clash between the president's complex turnout and motivation machine and the power of unlimited corporate cash bet on Romney.

Ad blitzes by pro-Romney groups known as super-PACs helped destroy the former Massachusetts governor's Republican foes and are now targeting Obama.

Obama meanwhile may fall short of his 2008 fundraising bonanza of $750 million, meaning he will likely be outspent.

The Politico website last week shook the election race with a report that spending by Republican-backing groups in 2012 could reach $1 billion -- and Romney will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

Walker's win also left unions questioning whether their own funding muscle on behalf of Democrats will be swamped by corporate, and conservative cash.

Obama will not however be outspent seven-to-one like Walker and the White House said the spending orgy in Wisconsin distorted the true picture.

"You had was an incumbent governor in a repeat election ... in which he outspent his challenger by a magnitude of seven or eight to one with an enormous amount of outside corporate money and huge donations," said spokesman Jay Carney.

Other caveats may also be in order.

Despite Walker's triumph, Obama is in decent shape in Wisconsin, part of a midwestern path -- one of several routes -- to 270 electoral votes he needs to reclaim the White House.

Obama led Romney in Wisconsin exit polls Tuesday by seven points. Recent opinion polls also have him up in a state he won by 14 points in 2008,

Despite the explosion of cash in Wisconsin, the recall looked a lot like the 2010 race when Walker won, beat Barrett by 52 percent to 46 percent, a similar margin to Tuesday's race.

That raises the question of how many votes the big money shifted?

The presidential campaigns meanwhile are already buying out time in key television markets for an autumn of negative attacks.

That poses another query : will bloated super-PAC spending simply be diluted in an already saturated market?

And for all the ads, the election may turn on the question of the economy, Obama's efforts to rescue it and Romney's claims the incumbent has failed.

Character judgments made after party convention speeches and presidential debates in October may also play an outsize role in deciding the race.