Scott Walker Joins The GOP Race

13 Jul, 2015 by William Teach

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Talk about a crowded field

I'm in. I'm running for president because Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them. – SW http://t.co/DZG253QjfP #Walker16

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) July 13, 2015

(The Hill) “America needs new, fresh leadership with big, bold ideas from outside of Washington to actually get things done,” Walker said in a video.

“In Wisconsin, we didn’t nibble around the edges. We enacted big, bold reforms that took power out of the hands of the big government special interests and gave it to the hard-working taxpayers, and people’s lives are better because of it,” Walker said.

“We fought and won. In the Republican field, there are some who are good fighters, but they haven’t won those battles,” he added.

The video is available at that link. As one article notes about Walker (it also has good info on a few other GOP other candidates)

Pros – The Wisconsin Governor is about as Reaganesque as one could want. He has one two elections in “progressive” Wisconsin, including a union-driven recall election. He’s pressed and succeeded in pushing a conservative agenda in an unlikely state.

Cons – Could be viewed as too “vanilla” on the campaign trail. Today, politics is more about personality and emotions than how good at a particular job any candidate would be. More people thought Mitt Romney would be a better President than Obama had been, but they voted for him based on empathy.

A second The Hill article notes the same

He faces a charisma question, and is seen by some critics as a vanilla candidate from the Midwest who lacks the “wow” factor — the same liability that capsized the candidacy of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2012.

While competing with more exuberant rivals such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Donald Trump, Walker must show he can appeal to wide swathes of voters.

Pawlenty was an excellent candidate, one of the best for 2012 IMO, except that he seemed boring, and flamed out early. Walker will need to kick up the excitement factor.

For me:

Walker: Yes
Rubio: could hold my nose over his amnesty push
Bush: he’d have to seriously convince me, after his big support for Common Core, illegal immigration, and “climate change” legislation
Carly Fiorina: Yes!
Trump: oh, hell no. Zero trust of this guy. He’s saying the right things on immigration, and attacking Hillary and Dems, but, do we really know who this guy is politically?
Cruz: Yes!
Christy: I do not trust him. He seems more than willing to attack Conservatives, but not Democrats.
Rand Paul: I like the guy, he has good ideas, but, I don’t think he would play well during a general election.
Perry: meh.
Ben Carson: good guy, I don’t think he has what it takes to win a general election.

Now it’s time to see how this all shakes out.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.