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Iowa Conservatives See Plenty To Like In Scott Walker

Wisconsin Governor Has Managed To Avoid Potential Pitfalls In Early Presidential Campaigning

By
Shawn Johnson/WPR

Iowa Republicans are getting to know Gov. Scott Walker, and based on early polls, it appears that they like him. Many Iowan voters appear enthralled with the story of Walker, the conservative folk hero, and seem prepared to overlook potential shortcomings.

While it’s unclear precisely what caused Walker to surge in the Iowa polls earlier this year and then stay there, the people who turned out to his rallies last weekend suggested that the image the governor’s going for in this race is sinking in. At a Harley-Davidson dealership in Carroll, Iowa, James Hedeen said he started paying attention to Walker after Wisconsin’s 2011 collective bargaining battle.

“I’ve watched as he’s gone along. And the stands that he took, took guts,” Hedeen said.

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When Walker calls himself a fighter in his stump speech and draws repeated comparisons to Ronald Reagan, it clicks with Hedeen. He knows Walker has been a polarizing figure in Wisconsin, and he said he’s OK with that.

“It takes a polarizing figure right now in order to turn the truck, you know?” he said. “It’s not going to take some mediocrity — some guy that’s going to stand on the fence and say ‘OK, let’s play this game and then let’s play this game.’ It’s going to take somebody that’s going to stand up and say, ‘Look, we’ve got to go this direction.’”

At the same Harley dealership, Theresa Hildreth said Walker is exactly what the country needs.


Walker supporter Theresa Hildreth said she likes the Wisconsin governor because he seems relatable. Shawn Johnson.

“What I like the most about the governor is I can relate to him,” Hildreth said. “He’s like me. He’s not above me. He doesn’t talk to me like I’m below him.”

Hildreth is sold on Walker. He rides a Harley; she rides a Harley. Walker shops at Kohl’s; she shops at Kohl’s. And Hildreth learned this week that Walker has no college degree. She likes that, too.

“That impressed me because I went to college, too, but I don’t have a college degree. I don’t have a college diploma. But I feel like I’ve been successful in what I want to do with my life,” she said. “So, like I said, he’s common folk. I think he’s going to go a long ways. I think a lot of people can relate to him. I can relate to him.”

This is exactly what the Walker campaign is going for. His pitch to Iowa voters is that he’s just like them, and the contentious Wisconsin experience proves that he fights and he wins. But there are key pieces of the Wisconsin experience that Walker leaves out. At nearly every campaign stop, he’s introduced as the governor who came into office with a $3.6 billion deficit and filled it.

Not mentioned is that, using the same math, Walker’s tax cuts helped create a more-than $2 billion budget deficit this year that the governor plugged in part by borrowing and by cutting $250 million from the University of Wisconsin.

Pressed on that point, James Hedeen acknowledged that not everything’s perfect in Wisconsin.

“No, it’s not all roses, but I mean, like I said, the more you can put in the American peoples’ hands — not only money but decisions — I mean, there’s too much federal government right now making too many decisions for the average joe out there working today, and it’s costing them a lot,” he said.

Theresa Hildreth said tax cuts are a good thing, even if they lead to budget cuts.

“We’ve gotten real fat. We’re expecting — it’s always more, more more. We’ve got to make due with what we got,” she said.

When it comes to others issues, Republicans’ views of Walker might not be so clear-cut. For example, Walker talks tough on foreign policy. He wants the U.S. to spend more on the military and to take the fight to terrorists before they bring the fight here. This gets big applause at campaign rallies, but it turns off at least some Republicans, like Vincent Campos of Council Bluffs.

“It stirs up peoples’ emotions to support these wars, and I think a lot of it’s not true,” he said.

Campos said he’s an Iraq War veteran and he thinks Walker sounds too eager to start another war.

“People who’ve actually been there understand what it’s all about, and they know first-hand and they understand that decisions to go to war should not be made unless it’s an absolute — there’s no other way,” he said.

Campos said he’s leaning toward other Republicans in this race, and with Iowa’s caucuses more than six months away, there are still several who have a chance. But for the time being, Scott Walker is the clear frontrunner in Iowa, and it isn’t even close.