Despite fears being whipped up by its opponents, EFCA is dead. Not only card check, but any serious labor reform. Labor and Democrats will be playing defense for the forseeable future. But the killer wasn't corporate America, nor was it Rahm Emanuel or Senator Blanche Lincoln. The bill itself inflicted its own mortal wound by allowing opponents to frame it (correctly) as doing away with secret ballot elections. No amount of employer misconduct in the election process or retaliation could overcome the sound bite characterization provided by the fact of removing elections as the preferred way of determining whether a majority of the employees want union representation.