Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a contender for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination if he can hold onto his current job this fall, casts himself as a Republican uniter in a new GQ profile that just hit newsstands.
The 46-year-old executive rose to national prominence and survived a recall election after he took on labor unions in his Midwest state. Now, on the campaign trail, he has a few pointers for his fellow Republicans.
For one thing, their anti-Obama mantra is a bit too pessimistic, he told GQ.
“I try to be optimistic and visionary,” he said.
They also have a hard time relating to people, as “fiscal cliffs and sequesters don’t mean anything to most people.”
“I talk about whether your kid coming out of college is gonna have a job,” he said.
Third, he said his fellow governors “don’t get out much” and should travel around their states.
To do what John McCain and Mitt Romney could not — seize battleground states and win the presidency — Mr. Walker will have to prove himself against his current opponent, Democrat Mary Burke, in his bid for a second term in Madison. The latest polls show it is a tight race.
Should he secure victory, Mr. Walker indicated to GQ he is thinking big.
“What do Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, and Nevada all have in common?” he told GQ’s Robert Draper. “Those are all battleground states that Barack Obama won in 2012 — and they also have Republican governors. So why are state Republican leaders connecting with voters in a way that the national party isn’t?
“Not that any Republican is necessarily going to win the majority among women, younger voters, or ethnic minorities,” he added. “But we can do a lot better. I go to places where you’d never dream of seeing Mitt Romney or John McCain.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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