By Cara Maresca
This Friday we take a look back at Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s Wednesday interview where he discussed his thoughts on Mitt Romney’s campaign.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker echoed fellow conservatives’ worry over Mitt Romney’s campaign on Morning Joe Wednesday.
“Does that frustrate you that Mitt Romney still hasn’t found his voice and isn’t sticking his neck out?” host Joe Scarborough prompted.
Walker said he wasn’t worried about Romney’s capacity, citing the candidate’s experience leading Bain Capital, the 2002 Olympics, and Massachusetts (as governor). Still, Walker’s looking for a “splash” from Romney, hopefully before the GOP convention in Tampa – now nearly a month away.
Walker cited the “Big Dig,” Boston’s obstacle-ridden construction project, as a time when then-Governor Romney “rolled up his sleeves and said, I’m taking control.”
“He’s not doing that right now on the campaign?” Scarborough said.
“No, I don’t think he is,” Walker responded. Instead, Walker said, “There’s a lot of caution… the mistake that [the Romney campaign is making] is feeling like it can just be a referendum on the president.” Though that’s “part of it” for an incumbent, Walker said there’s got to be something more. “People don’t just vote somebody out; they’ve got to vote somebody in.”
The governor’s suggestion: Get Romney out on the road where he does best. “He relates to people well, relates to small business owners well. I would like to see more of that.” That’ll have to wait until Romney gets back from his overseas trip – the candidate is visiting England, Poland, and Israel now through August 1. In the meantime, the campaign is holding 24 “We Did Build This” events across the U.S., meant to “give small business owners the chance to respond to President Obama’s claim that ‘if you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that,’” according to the Romney campaign. Romney surrogates – including potential VP candidate Gov. Bob McDonnell – will host the events. During the interview, Walker also attributed his recent win in the Wisconsin referendum election to “independent swing voters…[who] appreciate somebody willing to take a chance at sticking their neck out to do something,” and lamented the absence of such gusto at the national level.
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