Big weekend ahead for Walker with Iowa, California trips
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Scott Walker said Friday he plans to tout his record and Washington-outsider status when he joins other potential 2016 presidential candidates this weekend at national GOP events in Iowa and California.
Walker is preparing to rub shoulders with other possible White House hopefuls in the state that hosts the nation's first presidential caucuses before heading to the West Coast, where he'll speak at an event hosted by billionaire GOP-donor brothers David and Charles Koch.
On the eve of the Iowa trip, Walker's campaign confirmed he has hired David Polyansky as his senior adviser in Iowa. Polyansky, who helped lead winning Iowa operations in the past for Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann, worked on Joni Ernst's successful Senate campaign last year.
Walker is best known nationally for pushing through a law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public-sector unions in 2011, a fight that led to a recall election that he won the following year.
Walker, 47, frequently points out he's done more than take on unions. During his first four years in office, Walker and a Republican Legislature cut taxes by $2 billion, passed a voter identification law, signed a concealed carry law and toughened requirements for people to get welfare.
"One of the things I hope people in Iowa and elsewhere will look at is the ... powerful message that's new, that's fresh, that's big and bold, that comes outside of Washington and most importantly is proven to work," Walker said during a news conference in Milwaukee.
Democrats say he's distorting his record. They said he is ignoring a looming $2.2 billion budget shortfall, has cut funding for public schools, and done nothing for the middle class. The voter ID law was blocked by the courts.
"Just like every other national Republican, Scott Walker is running on tired, old ideas that have never worked to grow our middle class," said Wisconsin Democratic Party spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff. "Walker's clearly left Wisconsin's problems and Wisconsinites' needs behind while he caters to a national audience."
During his trip to Iowa, Walker will join other potential Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls on Saturday, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Conservative Iowa Republican strategist Susan Geddes, who supports Walker, said the best thing he can do in Iowa is just show up and meet people.
After Iowa, he heads to California to speak at the winter meeting of a nonprofit that serves as the central hub for the network of advocacy organizations backed by the Koch brothers.
And in March, Walker is scheduled to make his first trip to the early primary state of New Hampshire.
Walker isn't ignoring potential Democratic opponents - especially Hillary Rodham Clinton - and notes that he's won three statewide elections in the last four years in a state that hasn't voted for a Republican president since 1984.
"While Washington stands at an impasse, Americans are increasingly turning to state leaders for answers because we are pushing big, bold reforms," Walker said Tuesday, after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech.
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