Walker Praises Romney in RNC Speech

Governor Scott Walker praised Mitt Romney during his speech to the the Republican National Convention Tuesday night. Walker’s speech was a variant of one he has given to Wisconsin audiences many times before. The difference was that Walker used some of his most familiar lines to tell the crowd that Mitt Romney was a lot like him. “Mitt Romney understands, like I understand, that people, people not governments, create jobs.”

Walker said Romney’s decision to pick Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate showed that Romney had the “courage and passion to be an exceptional president.” He added, “With this pick, he shows that the ‘R’ next to his name doesn’t just stand for Republican, it stands for reformer. Now more than ever, we need reformers. Leaders who think more about the next generation than the just the next election, that’s what you get. That’s what you get from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.”

UW La Crosse political science professor Timothy Dale says, even though Walker is viewed as a rising star in the national GOP, he came across as a team player for Republicans Tuesday night. Dale says that is important for Romney. “Among base Republicans their favorability rating of some of these other people that are speaking at the convention are actually better than their own candidate among Republicans. So I think what Romney is trying to do is capture the energy around some of these people, including Scott Walker.”

Despite Walker’s national prominence this year, he was not the headline speaker Tuesday night. That distinction went to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.