Governor Walker with Capstone News Now Host Jordan LaPorta
TALLADEGA, Ala. — This past Saturday, Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) came to the world-famous Talladega Super Speedway to rally support at the state party’s annual summer luncheon.
The Wisconsin governor said the crowded field of 17 Republican presidential candidates includes those who fight but don’t have the experience of elected office and others who are elected officials that don’t match his accomplishment.
“I’m the only one who’s done both. I fought and I won. I did it without compromising our principles,” Walker said in his speech. “My whole career I’ve been a solid conservative. We’ve cut taxes by $4.7 billion. We’ve balanced our budget, we took on the unions and won.”
Walker’s record of conservatism in face of political crisis has become one of the major selling points of his campaign. After pushing back against Wisconsin’s public sector unions right to collectively bargain, the Midwesterner had to win three elections in four years and became the first ever governor in U.S. history to win a recall election.
“I wasn’t intimidated by not just big union bosses and liberal special interests, but early on even some from my own party. I’m not going to back down or be intimidated by anyone out there,” he said.
The candidate’s speech to the Alabama Republican Party came a day after he announced that Alabama State Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed (R-Jasper) would head his campaign in the Yellowhammer State.
Alabama will join Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to hold its presidential primary election on March 1st. Electoral heavy hitter Florida will also have its primary in March, waiting until two weeks after its neighbors for March 15th.
The new system, championed by Alabama’s Secretary of State John Merrill, is an effort to maneuver Alabama into a place of greater relevance in the nominating process—a move that appears to be working.
In most presidential election years through the 2004 cycle, Alabama held its presidential primaries in June, often long after voters in other states had essentially decided the outcome of the races. Now, with the new March 1st date, many in Alabama hope that their voices will have a greater impact in who represents the parties in November.
Walker is currently polling fourth in most national polls including Real Clear Politics where the Wisconsin Governor takes 7.7 percent of the vote. Walker’s showing in Alabama is yet to be seen and the Republican voters in the state will determine which candidate gets its delegates in six months.
