When all is said and done I think this guy is going to be the nominee:
"In Iowa, Scott Walker leads the GOP pack; Wis. governor faces some perils on the horizon" by Trip Gabriel New York Times June 07, 2015
Two challenges loom on the near horizon for Governor Scott Walker, who has said the path to the presidency “comes through the Midwest.” They are the first Republican debate, in Ohio on Aug. 6, in which he could be the target of the nine other candidates on stage, and a decision on whether to compete in Iowa’s straw poll in Boone two days later.
They did not have the Iowa straw poll this year.
Several top-tier candidates, including former governor Jeb Bush of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, have said they will skip the straw poll, a gathering of thousands of Iowa Republican activists that does not award any delegates for the party’s nomination. It is costly for campaigns to organize and bus in supporters, and the poll’s reputation as a predictor of victory has tumbled in recent years.
That is what I'm getting into now, the top-tier, and Huck ain't in it anymore.
The decisions of others gives Walker cover if he, too, takes a pass. His Iowa advisers declined to say whether he will participate in the straw poll, noting he has yet to declare his candidacy. (An announcement is expected late this month or early July.)
If Walker skips the event, Republican strategists in Iowa said, he risks allowing another candidate to steal some of his momentum. Party insiders unaffiliated with other candidates said he was in a lose-lose situation.
“If you don’t participate, it’s going to be viewed as a sign of weakness by some, and you’re going to turn off some of the party establishment and key activists,” said Craig Robinson, who ran the straw poll for the state Republican Party in 2007. “And if you do it, he has no choice but to win and win convincingly.” He could end up spending time and money to compete against long-shot candidates such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon.
No worries now.
Walker’s favorability rating among likely GOP caucusgoers in Iowa was higher than any other candidate, 67 percent, in a poll conducted at the end of May for The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics (with a sampling error of 5 percentage points). He enjoyed a solid 7-point lead, an opening he first created with a passionate speech to conservatives in Des Moines in January....
And the winner of the Iowa primary.... Wisconsin kinda close by, too.
So far, Walker has had an unusual ability to draw support from both the social conservative and the business-oriented wing of the party.
The social conservatives embrace his signing of bills as governor to defund Planned Parenthood, and his strong expression that prayer is central to his life. Business conservatives admire that he cut taxes and dealt crippling blows to unions.
But his ability to span the wings of the party — to win the argument that he is the most conservative candidate capable of winning the general election — could become a weakness if enough voters decide they would rather go with a purer expression of their ideal candidate.
It's corporate loot that will vet and decide, as it has been for years.
He is competing for social conservatives against Huckabee, who won the caucuses in 2008, as well as Carson, Cruz, and others.
Those guys haven't even been covered by the Globe lately. Must be second tier now.
Among business-focused candidates, he must fight for supporters with Bush, who is expected to announce his candidacy this month, and Rubio.
They will be coming above at some time in the near future.
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The "political symbolism was as thick as smoke" and Walker left them in the dust as he headed to New Hampshire:
"Understated Walker stays on top in N.H. primary" by Jim O’Sullivan Globe Staff June 03, 2015
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Scott Walker makes a quiet entrance. It’s of a piece with the unassuming personal image cultivated by the two-term governor of Wisconsin just as he has constructed the sterling conservative credentials that vaulted him to the front of the Republican presidential pack.
Polls show him running first in Iowa’s early caucuses, and near the top of the field in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
He will be one of the handful left after those two contests.
Granite State political veterans say Walker could become a sort of “Goldilocks” candidate — just right for attracting the largest swath of GOP primary voters. While other top candidates, such as former governor Jeb Bush of Florida, have policy positions that put off the GOP faithful, Walker’s candidacy so far has proven, for his party’s voters, palatable enough.
“I don’t think he’s bringing baggage in, and he’s a new face, and people like that,” said state Senate majority leader Jeb Bradley, a former GOP congressman who has not backed a candidate this cycle. “He comes across as somebody who’s a problem-solver, not really full of himself, so it’s not surprising that he’s doing well in New Hampshire.”
The campaign narrative and story of road to the White House already taking shape.
The early GOP field is vast this season, numbering as many as 20 announced or potential candidates. Some Republicans have sought to maximize their potential by courting their niches. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for example, plays well to his party’s Christian conservative wing, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky appeals to more libertarian-minded Republicans.
See: Ripping Rand Paul
At a Saturday afternoon event in Concord, Walker faced sharp questioning from some attendees, which Juliana Bergeron, the state’s national committeewoman, found significant.
“I think that says something about where he is in the rankings here,” she said, noting that Walker has failed to rile any serious pockets of opposition among the primary electorate.
Walker’s trip to New Hampshire over the weekend was his third since forming a political action committee in January. Walker told reporters he needs strong finishes — “that means first, second, or third” — in each of the first four voting states, which are Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
I think he'll get them.
If Walker can preserve his lead in Iowa, a Granite State victory would cement front-runner status and provide him with an early claim on the nomination. No non-incumbent Republican has won both states in the modern primary era.
Veteran New Hampshire Republicans say Walker faces fewer of the political impediments that are hampering other candidates. Bush, for instance, considered a favorite in the state’s primary, suffers from voter fatigue with one of the nation’s preeminent political families. His support for Common Core educational standards and overhauling immigration laws draws ire from local Republicans.
Other, more tactically minded voters worry that choosing Bush would strip Republicans of one of their chief arguments against Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton: that she represents a vestige of the nation’s political past, while their nominee could project a more forward-looking image.
That is a very powerful argument because the worst possible outcome is a Clinton vs. Bush rematch.
Other Republican candidates considered top-tier contenders have their own shortcomings. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has peeled off swaths of 2012 nominee Mitt Romney’s supporters, has undergone an awkward dance on immigration, and carries the taint of Washington in a party sour on the capital.
I will be addressing that in the next few days.
Paul has thrilled the party’s libertarian wing, but angered the faction of the party focused on national security with, among other measures, his recent move to block the Patriot Act’s extension.
He was just being patriotic.
Walker aides say they hope his reputation as a fearless, principled executive will appeal to New Hampshire’s voters. Walker famously confronted his state’s public employee unions, earning national attention — and opprobrium — by abolishing many collective-bargaining rights. He has cut taxes and brags about drawing 100,000 protesters to the Capitol in Madison.
He did leave it in place for cops and fireman, further dividing people from each other -- all so bankers could benefit.
He survived a recall election in 2012 and won reelection in 2014.
See: Wisconsin Recall Recall
Both rigged?
Walker’s stump speech dwells on his governorship in a state that has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1984, a point particularly salient among Republicans in New Hampshire, which has gone blue in five of the last six elections.
**********
Some activists said Walker’s standard presentation is too heavy on his record, and not prescriptive enough about what he would do if elected.
Who is?
Walker has also taken criticism for his policy shifts, notably his own frequent evolutions on immigration. Earlier this year, he took a hard-right stance by suggesting limits on legal immigration.
He's a flip-flopper?
That issue cropped up Saturday during a “politics and pie” event in Concord, where exchanges occasionally grew sharp. Former state Republican Party chairman Fergus Cullen told Walker he had been disappointed with Walker’s stance on immigration.
“I respectfully disagree,” Walker replied, adding that he wanted to prioritize the impact on American workers’ wages.
They are both connected. Sorry.
Inside the sweltering Concord lodge, Walker won positive reviews for his moves to restrict the role of teacher tenure in school administration, require photo identification for voters, and breaking the unions. As it would later in Manchester, Walker’s voice rose almost exclusively when he admonished the Obama administration against dealing with Iran.
He wanted to make sure Israel heard him.
The scattered criticism of Walker startled some senior Republicans.
“I was sorry that some people felt the need to go after him a little bit,” said Bergeron, who was among those fanning themselves with paper plates inside the lodge. “It’s usually a pretty friendly crowd.”
Cullen, who is thus far unaffiliated with any campaign, said of Walker, “He’s staking out not quite a right-wing, but a center-right lane.” Noting that New Hampshire generally gives the nod to a prominent centrist in the field, Cullen added, “He seems to be running a little bit to the right of that.”
That is where the next president will end up, whoever wins.
At the Concord dinner, Walker explained that his lilac-festooned tie was a gift earlier in the day during a house party at the home of state Representative Brian Gallagher. Lilacs are New Hampshire’s state flower.
“I’ve asked him to wear a million ties,” Walker’s wife, Tonette, said after the dinner, noting that the bold floral tie had drawn her attention throughout his speech.
Walker smiled at her, adding, “If you’re a New Hampshire voter, I will.”
Message? He'll do anything to get elected.
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Look who is trying to slow him down:
"In Wis., Obama tweaks GOP candidates" by Jim Kuhnhenn Associated Press July 03, 2015
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Wading into presidential politics, President Obama on Thursday promoted his brand of middle-class economics by drawing sharp contrasts with ‘‘mean’’ Republicans in the state where the GOP governor was preparing to enter the vast 2016 presidential field.
What would that be, the abysmal passage of fast track leading to said middle class being destroyed?
‘‘They’re good people,’’ Obama said of Republicans. ‘‘It’s just their ideas are bad.’’
This guy better be leaving because he is really starting to get under my skin with the duplicity and delusion.
And that isn't me identifying with Republicans. I dislike both sides of the corporate coin.
Obama leveled some of his sharpest criticism of Republicans, who disagree with him on most matters, on the issue of health care exactly one week after the Supreme Court upheld a key component of the law and Obama declared it ‘‘here to stay.’’
Again, bad laws are repealed all the time. It won't be because secretly corporations want the crappy health bill.
Republicans in Congress have cast dozens of votes to repeal the law, and they have vowed to keep trying.
‘‘Every single one of them is still obsessed with repealing the Affordable Care Act, despite the fact that by every measure it’s working,’’ Obama said. ‘‘It just seems a little mean to say that you don’t want to provide coverage’’ to millions of people who’ve gained it under the law ‘‘and you got nothing to replace it with.’’
Whose measures would those be because outside the administration and it's mouthpiece media allies, it's not working. You didn't get to keep your doctor or plan, not enough people signed up, the websites still don't completely work, and premiums are going through the stratosphere.
‘‘That’s a bad idea,’’ the president said.
Republicans countered that Obama was resorting to attacks because he’s the one short on good ideas.
Are you enjoying the political fooley?
‘‘It’s no surprise all President Obama has left are partisan attacks after spending the last six and a half years presiding over the weakest economic recovery in modern history and a declining middle class,’’ Republican Party spokesman Michael Short said.
That is really pouring $alter into the palace.
Obama traveled to Wisconsin to tout a Labor Department proposal that would make more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay. The move is strongly supported by organized labor, a traditional Democratic ally that parted with Obama over his push for a free-trade pact with Asia-Pacific countries.
I must have missed the article but I did see the complaints.
So do you like the ki$$ after the anal rape by the president?
Despite forceful opposition by labor that led most Democrats to abandon Obama on trade, he won ‘‘fast track’’ authority for the pending trade deal with support from Republicans, who are more supportive of freer trade. Congress would be able to approve or reject the trade agreement but not change or delay it.
That's the narrative. What happened was both parties voted it down, a big uproar occurred, then attention was diverted so the thing could quietly pass as both parties betrayed their people.
The legislative win kicked off a strong stretch for the lame-duck president, including Supreme Court rulings on health care and affirming gay marriage nationwide.
I noted earlier how the narrative doesn't fit with the power of the office up until the time he leaves.
The president was greeted at the airport by Republican Governor Scott Walker, who planned Thursday to file paperwork with election officials to formally begin his long-expected candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
Obama couldn’t resist poking fun at the GOP field.
‘‘We’ve got some healthy competition in the Democratic Party but I’ve lost count of how many Republicans are running,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘That’s an interesting bunch.’’
Certainly far more DEMOCRATIC, anyway!
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He's a real piece of work, huh? Welcomed at the airport, then his greenhouse-gas-spewing motorcade drives into to town so he can deliver an insult.
Of course, it's all fooleys. Behind closed doors and at the bars, both parties are friends. The money for Wall Street, the war machine, Israel, and the well-connected are biparti$an.
Parti$an$hip only occurs when the American people want or need something from them, a convenient excuse to block such things. It was the other guy!
NDU: Wisconsin Votes To Hide All Government Actions From The Public
A preview of the Walker Administration.
