Governor Walker gets backing of four members of Iowa Senate

Four of the 24 Republicans who serve in the Iowa Senate are announcing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is their pick for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination. Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale says he’s watched what Walker has done in Wisconsin.

“I thought we needed someone with some executive experience and I’ve spent some time privately with him and asked a lot of questions and am 110 percent behind him,” Zaun says.

Zaun was the Republican Party’s nominee for one of Iowa’s congressional seats in 2010 and he was a leading contender in the third congressional district in 2014. Zaun says, because of that campaign experience, he’ll be able to help Walker meet key people in central and southern Iowa. The other three senators who’ve announced they’re backing Walker come from other quadrants of Iowa. Senator Randy Feenstra is from Hull, in far northwest Iowa, and he says Walker has executive skills that set him apart.

“Great candidates out there, but from what I’ve seen from Governor Walker, he has the leadership abilities to become the next president,” Feenstra says. “And I want to be on his team and make that happen.”

The other two state senators who’re endorsing Walker are Dan Zumbach of Ryan, in northeast Iowa, and Tom Shipley of Nodaway, in southwest Iowa. Zaun says he’s actively recruiting other legislators to endorse Walker and has planned a private meeting this weekend to give Walker a chance to answer other legislators’ questions.

“I think it’s important,” Zaun says. “The candidate himself ultimately has to spread the message.”

Zaun endorsed Michele Bachmann in 2012. Feensta publicly supported George W. Bush in 2000 and, in 2012, he backed Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. These are voluntary positions for the four senators announcing their support of Walker today. Ethics rules for state senators bar them from being paid directly or indirectly by a presidential campaign or a political action committee.

Walker has not formally announced he’s running for president, but he has formed a political action committee called “Our American Revival”.

Walker's campaign site: Our American Revival - Good opening video and Ronald Reagan quote:

"It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government." - President Ronald Reagan, January 20, 1981

Scott Walker on Twitter

Scott Walker has hired Michael J. Gallagher, 31 to be his foreign-policy aide. Mike moved to Madison and began work this week.

Captain Michael Gallagher, USMC

""Fellow, Marine Corps' Junior Officer Strategic Intelligence Program Mike Gallagher is currently a fellow in the Marine Corps’ Junior Officer Strategic Intelligence Program and a student in the joint M.A. in Security Studies/Ph.D. in International Relations program at Georgetown University. Prior to this assignment, he served on General Petraeus’ CENTCOM Assessment Team and deployed twice to Al Anbar Province between 2007 and 2008 as a commander of intelligence teams.

Mike holds a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from National Defense Intelligence College. He received his undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, earning a certificate in Near Eastern Studies. At Georgetown, he intends to explore the role of intelligence in grand strategy design and presidential decision-making. Mike speaks Arabic and grew up in both Green Bay, WI and Costa Mesa, CA."

March 7, 2015: Jeb Bush might not win Iowa, but he'll show up " URBANDALE, Iowa — As Jeb Bush makes his first trip to Iowa as a likely candidate for president this weekend, expectations are being set low.

Very low.

"Welcome to Scott Walker's Iowa," laughed one Iowa Republican operative with close ties to Bush's organization, invoking the Wisconsin governor who is also likely to run for president.

But if Bush is not favored to win the Iowa caucuses early next year, he is signaling he does not intend to forego competing in Iowa, as some candidates have in the past.

The former Florida governor will be one of nearly one dozen Republicans to travel to Iowa for an agriculture summit Saturday. Bush will also hold a few private fundraising events, and meet with Iowans at a Pizza Ranch in Cedar Rapids.

Bush kicked off his trip Friday evening at the Living History Farm in Urbandale, headlining a fundraiser for Rep. David Young. There, Bush recounted his "fond memories of Iowa" from his father's campaigns for president."...........

Gov. Scott Walker to speak at Iowa Ag Summit ".....The GOP governor and a line-up of other major White House contenders—including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush—will take the stage at the Iowa Ag Summit on Saturday at the state fairgrounds here...

...Walker, a past critic of ethanol, acknowledged in January that he’ll have to spell out his position on the issue as part of his likely presidential bid.

“That's something that, should I be a candidate in the future, I probably would have to take a stand,” he told reporters in Madison.

Walker’s likely correct — in Iowa, ethnaol is unavoidable....".........

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