Walker stumps at Reagan alma mater as he aims to regain ground

Gov. Scott Walker evoked President Ronald Reagan during a Thursday speech at the conservative icon’s alma mater, where he attempted to jump-start his presidential campaign amid flagging poll numbers. 

{mosads}He echoed Reagan’s call to “drain the swamp in Washington,” embracing an outsider message targeted at the disaffected voters that have flocked mainly to fellow GOP presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ben Carson. 

“To wreak havoc on Washington, America needs a leader with real solutions. Political rhetoric is not enough — we need a plan of action, actions speak louder than words,” Walker said at Eureka College in Illinois, a subtle reference to the establishment’s criticism of Trump as all rhetoric. 

“America also needs a leader who has been tested, I have been tested like no one else in this race.” 

Walker, once a presidential front-runner who topped the polls in Iowa, has seen his numbers slide dramatically over the past few months. He’s now in seventh place in recent national polling, fourth place in Iowa and in seventh in New Hampshire, according to a RealClearPolitics average.

He hammered home his success in passing laws to curb collective bargaining rights and mandatory union fees in Wisconsin, controversial reforms that solidified his support among Badger State and national conservatives but drew the ire of liberals. Voters pushed Walker into a recall election based solely off the back of that collective bargaining bill, but he won the right to serve out his term.  

That’s the Walker his campaign is pitching to voters as it works to regain ground. As outsider candidates like Trump and Carson shine, Walker has tried to position himself as the credible outsider — a candidate who doesn’t have the stain of Washington on his record, but has proven his political mettle in tough fights.  

Walker reiterated promises to repeal ObamaCare and tear up the Iran nuclear agreement on his first day in office, amid criticism from former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.) that getting rid of that agreement immediately would be irresponsible and brash.  

He also previewed a new policy platform aimed at taking away “power form the big government union bosses” that would end mandatory political union dues. “That protects workers from being forced to give money to candidates they don’t support,” he said, a mirror to a reform he shepherded in Wisconsin earlier this year.

He added that he’ll elaborate on that plan on Monday in Las Vegas.

The speech comes at a pivotal time for Walker, less than one week before the next GOP debate and as Democrats and rivals alike have hit him over his recent reluctance to take a definitive stand on issues.

He had previously declined to address the Syrian refugee crisis, calling it a “hypothetical,” before switching direction a few days later to state that America should not take in more Syrian refugees.

That prompted a barb ahead of the speech from the Democratic National Committee, which panned Walker’s plans for his presidency as “hypothetical.”