Slumping Walker Will Try to Out-Trump Trump

Wisconsin governor promising more passion to supporters
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2015 6:15 PM CDT
Slumping Walker Will Try to Out-Trump Trump
Gov. Scott Walker, seen here Aug. 19 in New Hampshire, is trying to turn things around in Iowa, where he's falling in the polls.   (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

After falling to third place in the Iowa polls, Scott Walker has decided it's time to steal from Donald Trump's playbook. Stories in the Washington Post, CNN, and NBC News report on how Walker is testing out a much more aggressive strategy this week. He's not only trying to emphasize his conservative credentials but looking to benefit from the anti-establishment sentiment that has lifted Trump. In a conference call with fundraisers, the Post quotes the Wisconsin governor as saying, “We need to step it up and remind people that we didn’t just take on the unions and Democrats, we had to take on my own party establishment, those who did not want to take on the status quo." He promised supporters more passion.

On the campaign trail this week in Iowa, Walker specifically called out Republican leaders for not doing enough to repeal ObamaCare, comments that CNN says "marked a noticeable change just a week" after Trump and Ben Carson took first and second place in the latest Iowa polls. Both men he's trailing in the state are non-politicians running for office, but Walker—a lifelong politician—tells NBC that he can appeal to their supporters. "It's not about the job you've held, it's about what you've done in that job that matters," he says. "People can identify that anger, but I think I'm the best candidate in the race to actually do something about it." (More Scott Walker stories.)

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