Scott Walker To Run For Governor

I know that this won’t come as a shocker, but Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is going to announce his bid for governor next week.  I received a call from his campaign inviting me to the announcement, but I suspect that they won’t officially confirm anything until the actual announcement. 

I admit that I’m struggling a bit here.  As many of you know, it looks like Mark Neumann is also planning on getting into the race.  Neumann was a congressman a decade ago and was defeated by Russ Feingold.  He has a good conservative record and is independently wealthy due to his hard work and ingenuity. 

Normally, I am a strong supporter of rigorous primaries (much to the lament of many of my cohorts), but in this case, I’m not so sure.  Walker doesn’t have anything to prove.  He has walked the walk in the belly of the beast of liberal Milwaukee County.  He’s proposed flat budgets and vetoed tax increases (although he’s been overridden a number of times).  This year, it looks like Milwaukee County will end the year with a surplus - even in this economy.  He’s been reelected twice.  Walker provides a welcome contrast to Doyle’s massive budget deficits and tax increases. 

At the same time, Neumann is not a bad guy.  As I said, he has a good record.  The problem is that he hasn’t been in office for a decade.  It was easy to be a conservative in Congress during the 90s, but we haven’t seen what he would do in this kind of environment.  On the other hand, he has a lot of money and access to a lot of money.  The reality is that it will take a LOT of money to defeat

Doyle

WEAC, trial lawyers, labor unions, etc…

I’m a big fan of both Walker and Neumann, but I’m also a big fan of ousting Doyle.  I’ll be attending the Republican Convention as both a delegate and member of the media.  It will be interesting to see the mood of the party faithful.  Also, I’ll be a panelist on the Sunday media panel.  Hope to see some of you there!