Jeb Bush endorses Scott Walker and abc is tell all

Jeb Bush Sees Rising Star in Wisconsin Governor's Race
Republican Scott Walker Touts 'Brown Bag' Approach to Government
By TEDDY DAVIS
May 12, 2010


Wisconsin Republicans have yet to nominate a candidate for governor. Indeed, the state's primary is not until Sept. 14. But two national GOP heavyweights -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- are bullish on the prospects of Scott Walker, the self-described, brown-bag-packing county executive of Milwaukee.

"The guy is a fantastic candidate," Bush said. "The event that we did together, he gave a stump speech that sounded like it was the last three days of the campaign. I mean, he was on fire. It was, it was, he's the real deal."

The Wisconsin governor's race is one of the 2010 contests that could have implications in the 2012 White House race. Much more so than senators, governors tend to command the kind of state political machinery that can make a difference in a presidential contest.

ABC News 2010 Election Map: Follow the House, Senate and Governors' Races

Although President Obama carried the state by 14 points over John McCain in 2008, the state was a major battleground in 2004 when John Kerry won the state by 1 percent and in 2000 when Al Gore carried the state by less than 1 percent, a mere 5,708 votes.

Walker, 42, has put anecdotes about his personal frugality at the center of his campaign. In all his campaign messaging, he touts himself as someone who "drives a 1998 Saturn with 100,000 miles on it" and who "packs the same brown-bag lunch before heading to the office to save money: two ham and cheese sandwiches on wheat with mayo."

His first television ad touted that he has given back $370,000 in salary over eight years because he thought it was wrong for the county executive to be paid more than the state's governor.

"My wife was like, 'We're doing what?'" Walker said in his first television ad. "But we believe that government spends too much and that included my salary."

Making political hay out of the lunch that he packs for himself, Walker has branded his events around the state as part of a "Brown Bag Movement" that has three tenets: (1) "don't spend more than you have"; (2) "smaller government is better government"; and (3) "people create jobs, not government."

Walker's movement has a website that includes images of brown paper bags with pointed messages on them such as, "I'd be eating out if the government wasn't gobbling up all my money." Another message is, "We spent $780 billion on a stimulus plan and all I got was this brown bag."

Walker: 'Hard to Digest' All Newt Gingrich's E-Mails
During a recent fundraising trip to Washington, D.C., Walker talked to ABC News about the hands-on approach that Gingrich has taken toward his candidacy.

"Newt, my gosh, Newt must e-mail me like every other day, sometimes, I think, with new ideas," Walker said. "Sometimes, it's hard to digest it all."

One part of Walker's appeal to Republican bigwigs is his Milwaukee base. If Walker outperforms the typical Republican in Milwaukee, he said, he believes that traditional Republican strength in more rural parts of the state will power him to victory in November.

"The year I got 60 percent, Obama took two-thirds of the vote in my county," Walker said. "We're going to run to win in Milwaukee County, but if I get, say, 45 percent, it's over."

Another part of Walker's appeal to Republicans is his fiscal record in Milwaukee. The size of the government workforce is down 23 percent from where it was in 2002 and the county debt is down by 10 percent, he said.

Democrats have responded to Walker's "Brown Bag Movement" with their own "Bag Scott Walker" campaign. Walker's critics are eager to use Jeb Bush's support to tie the Wisconsin Republican to the economic record of Jeb Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush.

"Wisconsin cannot afford another Bush recession, which is just what Scott Walker would bring us," Michael Tate, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said.


Jeb Bush Has Endorsed Other GOP Hopefuls
Walker is also being criticized by Democrats for spending lavishly on the meals associated with campaign fundraising. A March analysis by the Associated Press ran under the headline, "Walker Meals Aren't Always 'Brown Bag.'"

"The campaign's bills for Walker's meals, campaign meetings that included meals for Walker, his staff and others, and food and drinks for fundraising events amount to at least $24,500 since mid-2008," the A.P. wrote.

"By contrast, the campaigns of his GOP primary rival Mark Neumann and Democratic opponent Tom Barrett spent some money on food and drinks for fundraisers but virtually nothing on meals for themselves and their campaign meetings. Both entered the race later than Walker."

Bush, who met Walker last year at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Sun Valley, Idaho, said he believes Walker's track record in Wisconsin's most populous county gives his "brown bag" message credibility.

"There are symbols in campaigns and then there are gimmicks," Bush said. "This is a symbol because he's proven he's a thrifty, frugal man. He lives his life in a way, in the way he's served as county executive. So, it's a good connection to how he would serve as governor because he's already done it."

Walker is one of five Republicans whom Bush is backing in competitive gubernatorial primaries: the others are former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in California, former state Sen. Bradley Byrne in Alabama, Attorney General Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania and Attorney General Bill McCollum in Florida.

When endorsing a gubernatorial candidate in a competitive GOP primary, Bush said he looks for someone who is committed to education reform. He also looks for conservative change agents.

"The duty of a leader is to change the way things work if they don't work," Bush said. "And a lot of things aren't working these days."

ABC News' Matt Loffman contributed to this report.


Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures

Scott Walker

Here are some of what Scott Walker has done.....

Reduced the county workforce by more than 20%
Lowered the county debt by 10%
Introduced 8 consecutive budgets without an increase to the property tax levy from the previous year.
Improved the county's bond rating
Milwaukee County Parks won the prestigious 2009 National Gold Medal for Excellence in the Park and Recreation Management Program
Eliminated the waiting list for long-term care for older adults through the Family Care program.
Milwaukee County's Mitchell International Airport received the Transportation Safety Administration's Partnership Award.
Invested over $199 million dollars in renovations and improvements to General Mitchell International Airport without increasing the property tax levy
Airport improvements helped attract nearly 1,000 jobs from Southwest, Air Tran and Republic airlines.
Implemented a pension obligation plan to save Milwaukee County taxpayers $ 237 million
In addition, Scott and Tonette Walker have given $370,000 back to the taxpayers over the past eight years

Chad Lee vs Peter Theron

From the Chad Lee Camp
Please read the following email and see comments below

May 2010
Dear Friends,

It’s been a busy spring at campaign headquarters!

Chad has been meeting with families and businesses across Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District. The message he's hearing is consistent and clear: Folks are tired of Tammy Baldwin’s do-nothing, even counter-productive approach to representation, especially on jobs and the economy. People have expressed a need for an advocate that will fight to get Wisconsin back to work and America back on solid economic footing. Chad wants to be that advocate, and we've been working hard on our goal of getting him to Washington to help restore fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free market solutions.

From Wisconsin Dells to Beloit, Mt. Horeb to Lake Mills, and everywhere in between, support for the Chad Lee campaign in Wisconsin's 2nd District continues to grow!

We now have a tremendous campus footprint at universities and colleges throughout the district. Young people are getting solidly on board to support a candidate they know will bring REAL change to Washington. In addition, business owners from both large corporations to family-run corner shops continue to join us in fighting the Baldwin-Pelosi-Obama agenda.

Each month the polls also deliver encouraging news. We’re gaining ground against Tammy Baldwin.

But despite this swell of support, we still count on you to get involved as a concerned citizen. Your contribution of $1000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or even $1 will help us send Tammy Baldwin home for good and end more than a decade of her ineffectiveness.

With your help, Chad Lee will become this district's Congressman, fighting to protect the Constitution and our economic future.

Support Chad Lee's campaign for Congress on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChadLeeCongress and Twitter at: www.twitter.com/ChadLeeCongress.

Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Woo hoo for Chad. (golf clap) Lets pat him on the back. Nice regurgitation, did you think of that on your own? While using generalities he doesn't actually have any solutions. This is all just fluff. This is suppose to be an update on a campaign that has been in effect for several months. Has he stated any actual action or ways to get people to work? Yeah I want to get people to work too. Even Tammy Balwin, who he is trying to beat, is using the same rhetoric the rest of the country is using. Where are his plans and details?

Lets look at why possibly their are no plans. Plain and simple he has none. His lack of life experience makes him not fully understand the mangitude of the sitution. As oppose to his primary opponent Dr. Peter Theron. With his PhD in mathemathics he is the perfect canidate to not only understand fully the problem, but solve it. To understand his plan go to his website chadleeforcongress.com to see how he really wants to change our country. His mention of small business is emphazed greatly. Yes of course it is due to him having a cleaning company, which he touts as his experience to lead our country. As much as I think that small business is important, let us not forget who employee a very large percentage of America, large business. Who also needs tax incentives and consideration when talking about tax, ecomony and health which he fails to mention. Currently working for a large company I see the impact of the tax hell and regulation of the current goverment, watching 50 of my closest friends in my office no longer have a job. Here are a few of large corp he fails to mention Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Macys, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Harly Davison who recently mentioned downsizing, Safeway, Humana, United Health care, Blue Cross Blue Shield, GE, Ford, the list goes on and on for larger corp who are impacted but he seems to only care about small businesses who most problems lie in state goverment. Oh and on a side note he does not come down onthe issue of abortion. Teabow would be proud. Don't think he will get his endorsement.

So congratutions Chad on getting the campus kids helping out on your campaign I am sure they will do you proud.