Walker Shines in New Hampshire By Stephen Hayes
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/walker-shines-new-hampshire_924064.html
He’d been speaking for a little more than ten minutes, telling stories about his battles in Wisconsin to a crowd of Republicans nodding their heads in enthusiastic agreement. Then, in the middle of an extended passage on the United States’ role in the world, Walker invoked “what makes us arguably the greatest nation in history.”
Arguably? At a Republican gathering in the Obama era?
He didn’t pause and no one seemed to notice. After more than two-dozen speeches here over a long weekend that served as the unofficial start of the New Hampshire primary process, the audience probably assumed that Walker had given the nod to American greatness without any qualifier, as had virtually every other speaker.
It was the only hiccup in a very strong speech. Walker guided the crowd through a brief history of his tenure as Wisconsin governor, punctuating the story with suggestions about what his reforms in back home might mean if he were to attempt something similar as president. “Washington is 68 square miles surrounded by reality,” he said, adapting a popular conservative appraisal of Madison.
Walker expanded the stump speech he had given in Iowa back in January, a coming out party of sorts, that propelled him to co-frontrunner status in national and early-state polling. The new content made clear that Walker is a hawk and that in a Walker presidency the United States would not only reengage with the world but would project its power without reservation. He called the war on radical Islam and “generational” war and scorched Barack Obama for his ambivalence on the threat. “We’re going to bring the fight to them and fight on their soil and not ours.”
Walker’s speaking style may lack the romance and inspiration of a Marco Rubio speech or the fire and intensity of a Ted Cruz, but he was both engaging and energetic. The last quality was especially notable because Walker showed no signs of fatigue from his travel over the previous 36 hours. He had returned to Madison from a trade mission in Europe on an overnight flight that arrived early Saturday morning and he then flew from Wisconsin to New Hampshire that morning.
“I was very impressed,” says Barbara Dunnington, from Dover, New Hampshire who, despite having lived in the state since 1972, was attending her first political event. “He stated his case very well and he has some great ideas. I like what he’s done in Wisconsin and I like that he was able to turn his state around economically and I really like the idea that he’s interested in reducing the burden of taxes on us.”
Another Republican activist has seen Walker speak three times in recent years and said the speech Saturday was easily his best effort.
The audience for Walker’s speech was smaller than the crowds that had listened to the other prospective candidates over the weekend. That wasn’t for lack of interest or enthusiasm, but because the hotel, the Crowne Plaza Nashua, had booked the large ballroom for a wedding. In an only-in-New-Hampshire (or Iowa) moment, Walker’s team learned that the bride, a fan of their boss, wanted to meet him. So Walker stopped by briefly and posed for a picture with the newly married couple.
In a press conference after his appearance, Walker was asked whether he would attend a same-sex wedding. He called the decision a “personal decision” before revealing that he and his wife had recently attended a reception for gay couple. He was out of town for the wedding itself but made the reception for a cousin of his wife.
“Tonette and I and our family already had a family member who’s had a reception. I haven’t been to a wedding. That’s true even though my position on marriage is still that’s defined between a man and a woman, and I support the Constitution of the state. But for someone I love, we’ve been at a reception.”
A Boston Herald/Franklin Pierce poll from late March had Walker tied with Jeb Bush at 15 percent support in New Hampshire. More recent polls, one from a Republican firm and another from a Democrat firm, have Walker with leads of 6 points and 10 points respectively.
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