Walker's New Approach: Zero in on McConnell

We’re listening…

As anti-establishment Republicans are gaining traction in the polls, Scott Walker is trying to establish himself as an outsider as well.

In a speech set to deliver in Minnesota on Tuesday, Walker will take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“Republican leaders in Washington told us during the campaign last year that we needed a Republican Senate to repeal Obamacare,” the Wisconsin governor will say according to pre-released remarks. “Well, Republicans have been in charge of both houses of Congress since January and there still isn’t a bill on the President’s desk to repeal Obamacare.”

Walker will say that he’s had to take on the establishment in his party before and that he told GOP lawmakers in Wisconsin, “It was put up or shut up time. If we didn’t do what we said we’d do, the voters would have every right to throw us out.”

“And just like I did in my own state, I am willing to take on anyone – including members of my own party – to get the job done,” he will say.

While many may be quick to credit Donald Trump’s presence in the race for the anti-establishment tone, it should be noted that Ted Cruz was fighting with Mitch McConnell long before the GOP Trump Show started.

Analysis from the first debate shows the decidedly outsider candidates did well. Walker is by no means a Washington hack, but his lackluster numbers after the debate show that he didn’t do enough to remind voters of that.

He isn’t going to get many more chances, especially in this crowded field. It only took Rick Perry two bad debates to lose a solid number one position in the polls in 2012 (it was all but over for him by the third bad debate). He finished strongly in the debates but the damage was done.

Walker’s record is obviously strong, but it’s questions about his charisma in front of crowds that have always dogged him. One doesn’t want to elect a president based solely on speech-making ability, but it sure helps when you’re on stage with what seems like a zillion opponents and you only have six minutes or so to make them remember you in a ninety minute debate.