Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker says modern Republicanism is the “tale of two parties.”
On a federal level, Republicans are known as the “party of no,” but on a state level Walker says Republicans are a party of optimism, relevance, and courage.
“We’re more optimistic than our friends in Washington. We’re not just against something, we’re laying out a plan, laying out a vision,” Walker said. “That’s how you lead.”
Walker’s name has been floated as a potential 2016 contender—that is, if he can raise his national profile and stand out in a world of shutdown-happy Tea Partiers. A Quinnipiac poll last month found that a Walker could be competitive with Clinton in Iowa.
Where the national GOP is discussing the debt ceiling and sequestration, “we talk about balancing our budgets, we talk about helping our neighbor get a job,” he said. Walker, 45, is a first-term Republican governor. Last summer, he survived a state-wide recall effort lead by the unions he stripped of their right to collective bargaining. He is the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election. “I think most Americans, even if they don’t like the size and scope of government, they still want something to work,” Walker said on Monday’s Morning Joe. “That’s the difference between Washington and Republicans at the state level. We may as Republicans want less government, but we want the government we have to work.”
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