Posted on 02/05/2015 9:06:46 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Scott Walker is the hottest thing in the 2016 GOP presidential race (to the extent it even exists). He gave a very well-received speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit a couple of weekends ago, and the new Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll of the Iowa caucuses has him surging into first place..
Which is even more notable because of one of the prevailing questions about Walker's likely candidacy: whether he's too boring to win.
Walker, you see, has the unfortunate distinction of running four years after another upper-Midwestern GOP governor flamed out early in the GOP primary. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, it seemed, was too Midwestern even for Iowa. The likeliest challenger to Mitt Romney's front-runner status — on paper at least — underperformed in the Iowa Straw Poll and was out of the race well before the caucuses started the official voting.
So the Walker-Pawlenty comparisons were inevitable.
"When some have talked about Walker, they unfavorably compare him to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, another nice, neighborly Republican who was considered too tepid," wrote Slate's John Dickerson last week.
Bloomberg declared this week: "If Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker runs for president, he should take a good hard look at the styling of another Midwestern governor, Tim Pawlenty, and what doomed that candidacy in 2012."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
http://watchdog.org/197832/gop-right-to-work-lawmakers/ By M.D. Kittle / February 5, 2015
It certainly was no surprise Walker did not mention a right-to-work initiative. The Republican governor with an increasingly laser-like focus on laying the groundwork for a presidential run has, after all, called a conservative drive to pass right-to-work legislation ending this session a “distraction.”
While Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, has recently said he will have the votes to pass “Workplace Freedom” legislation in the Senate, where such a bill is expected to begin, it appears plenty of Republican lawmakers don’t care to be bothered with the question.
Like many Americans, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has softened on the issue of same-sex marriage. Going back to 2005, he was a staunch supporter of traditional marriage, and as recently as 2010, he reportedly “opposed a new state law that allows gay couples to register with counties to get certain benefits, such as hospital visitation rights.” But his views have shifted.
Around March of 2013, Walker started suggesting that opposition to gay marriage was “generational,” and that it was wiser for Republicans to focus on economic issues. And just this week, after the Supreme Court decided not to weigh in on on the decision striking down Wisconsin’s gay marriage ban, his administration announced they would recognize same sex marriages, going back to June.
Here are some key past statements he’s made, all in 2013:
— At a February 2013 national conference hosted by Politico, Walker said fixing the legal immigration system should come first, but said the next step is we “gotta embrace” a “legal pathway” for those here unlawfully. He did not elaborate on what he meant.
— In a July 2013 interview with Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald staffers, Walker said “it makes sense” that people could not only stay here but get citizenship with the right mix of penalties and waiting periods and other requirements.
— In 2013 and later, Walker didn’t endorse any specific bill in Congress that would have allowed illegal immigrants to stay here. But at the Politico conference, he didn’t dismiss legislative action if some “nuances” were addressed.
— At that conference he flatly opposed deporting people who are here unlawfully, saying “you’ve got to find a way to make it legally possible for people moving forward.”
The idiot author seems not to know that Ike was a Midwesterner from Kansas if I am not mistaken.
Is Scott Walker too Midwestern to be president?
Maybr that is what we need, some one who can add 2 plus 2 and not come up with 3,454,239.
No amnesty Scott!!
No.
Next question please.
President Reagan was really a Midwesterner, although he ended up in California. Presidents Hoover, McKinley, Harding, Truman, Taft, Harrison, Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield and even Obama were elected or were from Midwestern states.
Yes, who wants to vote for a nobody from “Fly Over Country” (sarcasm)
The differences between Pawlenty and Walker are huge. Pawlenty didn’t take on unions and win. He didn’t make bold promises and keep them. Walker may not be a loud, bragging, cocky conservative, but he has proved he will not only talk about small, restrained government, but he will govern that way as well.
We'll buy him a pair of shoes if he wins a couple primaries.
He'll soon be kicking the hogs out of the governor's mansion... well, the livestock ones not the pet ones, of course.
< /sarc>
The Chicago Tribune was once a great paper.
Not anymore.
I like him.
Is St. Louis/Ferguson MO in the Midwest?
Yep....someone good comes along and the democRATS try to destroy him/her....
Always their playbook, can spot it a mile away.....
Are u talking about Scott Walker? He never graduated from college
Of course it is.
i would most like to see a Cruz/Walker or Walker/Cruz ticket.
Is Elizabeth Warren to Northeastern to be president?
thanks for all those links Heres another
In this one it looks like he supports Bush for President.
Good post with links txhurl.
I’m halfway through Walker’s book and a couple of interesting things I read. Walker considers Chris Christie a friend. He mentioned that a couple of times saying “My friend, Chris Christie.” He also considers Paul Ryan a friend.
He was very supportive of Romney and bemoaned the fact that he lost the presidential race. His opinion is that Romney focused too much on criticizing the administration rather than offering alternatives and a more positive message.
I would expect then that Walker would campaign the same way.
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