“I’m the only one in the race who meets those four tests.”
On Saturday, Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) rode in a race car through the doors of Talladega’s International Motor Sports Hall of Fame to address a gathering of 750 Alabama Republicans.
Walker is the fifth presidential candidate to visit Alabama this year, competing most recently with Governor John Kasich (R-OH), who secured the early endorsement of Alabama’s Governor Robert Bentley, and Donald Trump, who drew a crowd of 30,000 in Mobile the night before Walker’s speedway arrival.
“There are candidates who haven’t been elected to anything before, and that’s great to send a message, but in the end, I don’t think people are just angry,” said Walker. “If you’re angry, you check out, and say ‘I’m not going to vote for anybody, I’m going to give up on the system.’ People aren’t doing that. They’re standing up saying ‘I want my voice to be heard, I want someone to listen.’”
“If you want someone to listen, there’s a great field of Republican candidates, 17 people, many of whom are good friends of mine, some of them big supporters of mine. But you know what makes us different?” Walker queried to the upcoming SEC primary voters. “I’m asking for your vote, simply put, because I think if you’re looking for someone who can fight, and win, and actually get results, and do it without compromising common sense conservative principles, I’m the only one in the race who meets those four tests.”
Walker, who is the only governor in American history to have defeated his challenger in a recall election, shared why he thinks his unique experience in transforming a traditionally blue state is what the country needs now. “I’m proud to say that in an industrial midwestern state like Wisconsin, we now are the 25th state in the nation to have a right to work, a freedom to work whether you’re in a labor union or not,” said Walker, garnering applause. Alabama is also a right to work state.
“But it was more than just taking on the big government union bosses,” he elaborated. “It was about a shift of power from the big government special interests to the hardworking taxpayers.”
Walker’s routine Kohl’s analogy illustrates the economically conservative belief that instead of fostering a limited, highly taxed, and highly regulated wealthy population, there should be a wider base of taxpayers paying lower taxes, thereby retaining more money to put into the economy and generating exponentially greater revenue.
“Well, how does a retailer like [Kohl’s] make money? With all those discounts, how do they make money? They make it off of volume,” said Walker, “they can sell at a higher price to fewer, or they can lower the price, broaden the base, and increase the volume that they profit.”
Walker didn’t shy away from specifics, discussing how his administration lowered taxes, legalized concealed carry and the Castle Doctrine, protected voting integrity by requiring photo I.D., armed National Guard members on duty, and defunded Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin ahead of the game. “If we can do those sorts of things, those sorts of common sense, conservative reforms in a blue state like Wisconsin,” said Walker, “there is no reason why we can’t do it in Washington.”
“It wasn’t too late for my state. It’s not too late for America.”
“We need to make sure that we’ve got people who are willing to take on not just the left, not just Democrats, not just unions, but even some in our own party in Washington, who may not be as prepared to push for the federal reforms we need going forward,” Walker said, which met with applause from the room full of GOP members who held their state executive committee meeting following his guest speech.
Alabama State Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed (R-Jasper) was appointed as Walker’s Alabama campaign chairman the day before Walker’s visit. “It’s very early in the process and Alabamians are just getting to know Governor Walker, but he had a great reception at the Republican luncheon at Talladega and later in the day at Dreamland BBQ in Birmingham,” Reed told The Daily Caller.
“I think Scott Walker’s message of giving power back to the people resonated with conservatives here in Alabama. People are looking for a tough, conservative leader who can win and that’s who Scott Walker is.”
Walker came in third place in the informal jelly bean poll, where luncheon attendees paid $1 to place a jelly bean in a jar representing the candidate of their choice. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was in first place, and Donald Trump in second.
“You’ve got to be crazy to want to be president of the United States,” Walker admitted. “No sane person should want to have this job. You should only do it if you feel called to…That’s why I was one of the last people to get into this race, because for me, everything in my life is about discerning whether God is calling me to do something.”
“I feel called to run. I don’t know if God’s calling me to win, but I feel called to run.”
