Posted on 07/17/2015 10:15:17 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A line of people stretched outside Joey's Diner in Amherst Thursday morning ahead of Scott Walker's first New Hampshire campaign event in more than a month.
Call it pent-up demand; call it curiosity; call it a candidate’s emerging base of support. Whatever it was, this much was true: the crowds waiting to see the Wisconsin governor were too big for the restaurant to hold. So the campaign staff improvised, backing up a red pickup truck to the front door.
"Were going to try to fit as many people inside the diner, standing-room only, after he arrives," one staffer told the crowd. "But he's first going to come and deliver remarks to you guys."
A few minutes later, it was Walker standing on the back of the truck, giving an abbreviated version of his stump speech to the overflow crowd.
"We took on the unions and we won," he said, recounting his record in Wisconsin. "We lowered our taxes - something you care for obviously here. We lowered by $2 billion on income, on employers, on property..."
Those inside got the full version of the speech, which included references to Walker’s blue-collar background.
"It's great to be here at Joey's," he said, "because I remember my first job as a kid was washing dishes at the Countryside Restaurant. Washing dishes. So I'm sure I could probably go in the back here and find some guys that could put me to work washing dishes.
"And then," he added, "I moved up to the big time in high school. I started flipping burgers at McDonald's."
They also heard Walker note that his calls for putting more authority in the hands of states and local governments should resonate particularly well with Granite Staters.
“You’ve lived that here in New Hampshire. You understand that probably better than anybody else in the country," he said. "That’s why I want to take money and power out of Washington and send it to the our states, on things like, on things like Medicaid, and transportation, and workforce involvement and education.”
A second rally in the afternoon, at Seacoast Harley Davidson in North Hampton, included few changes from the Amherst event: an introduction by former Massachusetts US Senator Scott Brown and a moment of silence for the victims of the fatal shootings in Chattanooga. Otherwise, the two events were much the same, with crowds cheering louder the longer Walker spoke.
If Walker is looking to boost his New Hampshire profile, this day seemed to be a good start. In the days before his campaign kickoff, the Wisconsin governor made several visits to neighboring Iowa, while other candidates campaigned here. Whether Walker’s absence ends up making a difference in New Hampshire remains to be seen, but if there are any concerns about his commitment to this state, Nashua state Rep. Peter Silva, a Walker supporter, says the governor's upcoming schedule will put them to rest.
"He'll spend plenty of time here," Silva said. "He's coming back again next weekend for a big [motor]bike ride. He plans to go through all the counties doing that. He's going to be here a lot."
Walker himself stressed several times that he plans to be back often – and when he does he’ll have some new supporters working for him. Eli Boumitri of Derry hadn’t heard of Walker until about a month ago. On this day, he was among the hundreds of people waiting to meet him and maybe get a picture with a candidate whose working-class roots seemed to strike a chord with him.
"Like he said, work hard, the American dream. That's it," Boumitri said. "That's what I like about him. He didn't inherit money. I know everybody says politicians are the same, but he's different. He is different. That's for sure."
Boumitri got what he came for – a photo, a handshake and a conversation with his candidate. On his way out, he took two yard signs and vowed to volunteer for the campaign once it sets up a New Hampshire field office. And that’s not all Boumitri promised, either: "I'm going to go get him some baklava now," he said, laughing. "Get him used to it. That's what I'm going to do."
Lebanese baklava, motorcycle tours and, perhaps, more cheering crowds: all part of what Scott Walker may end up seeing now that he's rejoined the New Hampshire campaign trail.
NHPR's Brady Carlson reports on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign events in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire voters, like Iowans, feel it is their right to meet and question EVERY serious and some not-so-serious candidates one-on-one. I lived in Iowa half my life and helped run a presidential campaign and a party headquarters. Any candidate will draw “enthusiastic” crowds due to the above. Some campaigns make the mistake of thinking that “they’re are our voters” because they showed up for an event. Not necessarily. If they sign-up to volunteer and donate, they might be your supporters, otherwise, they might be browsing. It’s what they do.
Scott Walker is not very smart actually.
He looks like Howdy Doody.
Slimy liberal comments have a place here? The article from NPR was reasonably even handed.
Walker’s a good man... he’s not afraid of the snakes.
How bitter you are.
Well, Walkers not a two faced liar like Hillary and the rest of the democrats and their paid trolls...
Liberals think being ‘smart’ means knowing the current PC crap... or the ‘in’ mustard... in short they confuse ‘smart’ with fashionably shallow.
Maybe NPR is starting to suspect it’s unfair for all Americans to be forced to support stations that are totally liberal..
What in the world was “bitter” about my post? Please show me, since I guess I don’t know what “bitter” means? I gave you and your candidate some advice, based on my years of experience in Iowa politics. You can take it or leave it.
I’ll bet on the intelligence of someone who’s crafted not one, but two multi-billion-dollar deficit fixes that actually LOWERED taxes instead of raising them over a Land O’Lakes Liberal name caller any day of the week.
Between putting up with illegals - or cutting funding for NPR and PBS - it's a toss up. Both practices are unfair and wrong... Guess the ‘illegal’ thing is more important, but emotionally it would be wonderful to end the kind of bias and arrogance elite liberals show in their programming - - on the dime of all Americans.
Anyone know how liberal elites would feel if forced to put Ruah and Hannity in every radio market ON THEIR DIME?
What do looks have to do with the ability to govern?
Walker admits to a grade point of 2.59 at Marquette. Not exactly impressive.
Walker welcomed to New Hampshire.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Obama was an academic light bringer and Constitutional scholar par excellence. This contributed greatly to his failure.
—Walker two budgets with surpluses after giving taxpayers a major tax-cut.
—Devised Act 10 which restructured Wisconsin finances and cut the guts out of parasitic unions.
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