Winner of the Week: Scott Walker

Steve Deace ^ | April 28, 2015 | Steve Deace 

Editor’s Note: This is a weekly feature where we single out which 2016 presidential candidate did the best job crafting a winning message, based on the 10 Commandments of Political Warfare from Steve Deace’s book “Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again.”

Previous Winners:
Week of March 17th: Rand Paul
Week of March 24th: Ted Cruz
Week of March 31st: Ted Cruz
Week of April 7th: Bobby Jindal
Week of April 14th: Rand Paul
Week of April 21st: Rick Santorum
To say I wasn’t impressed with Scott Walker’s initial presidential roll-out would be an understatement. After speaking of the celebrated Wisconsin governor in glowing terms throughout the pages of Rules for Patriots, the first impression he left earlier this year as a presidential candidate was this is another Romney — albeit with a better record.
I even went so far as to say I thought Walker should go away for a while, figure out what his message is and what kind of candidate he wants to be, and then come back once he’s figured everything out.
This week it appears as if Walker has.
Walker has moved Right on the two issues the GOP establishment demands the party move Left — amnesty and marriage/religious freedom. By doing so, Walker has let it be known he does intend to make the case he’s the conservatives’ champion in 2016. That he’s not abandoning his base (Commandment #6) to become just another run-of-the-mill, “make the trains run on time” Republican.
On amnesty Walker didn’t just put forth a plan that says no to amnesty and yes to the rule of law, but even addresses the problem of the glut of legal immigration. Which imports competition for the American worker at a time a record 93 million people don’t have a job. If America’s unemployed were its own population, it would be the 15th most populous nation on earth. That’s more people than Egypt, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Walker even wisely defined his immigration plan as pro-American worker (Commandment #8 ).
Walker also voiced support for Ted Cruz’s proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would allow individual states — not unelected judges — to define and enforce marriage laws.
Finally, Walker made an under-the-radar move that is worthy of notice. His presidential SuperPAC hired Shirley & Banister, one of the most respected P.R. firms in the conservative movement, to handle its messaging and strategy. The P.R. firm was founded by Craig Shirley, the best-selling biographer of Ronald Reagan. I know this firm well, because I retained their services myself the past few months. Their main interest is promoting causes/people that are advancing movement conservatism. So they’re not going to sign on with Walker in order to promote milquetoast (Commandment #9).
Frankly, I was beginning to wonder if Walker was going to be the Tim Pawlenty of 2016. But this week indicates he’s re-branding himself back to what made him successful in Wisconsin. And for that reason Walker is our winner of the week.