Rep. Steve King (R–Tea Partyville) held his big annual Republican confab in Iowa this weekend, and most of the 2016 wannabe candidates for president were there. But I know you’re all busy people who don’t care about the details. Youjust want to know who won. Take it away, Ed Kilgore:
The consensus winner (first announced by National Review’s John Fund, but echoed by many others) was Scott Walker, who did exactly what he needed to do: show he could twist and shout with the best of them despite his “boring” image, and make an electability argument based on the fruits of confrontation rather than compromise. This latter dimension of his appeal should not be underestimated: at a time when MSM types and (more subtly) Jeb Bush and Chris Christie continue to suggest Republicans must become less feral to reach beyond their base, here’s Walker saying he won three elections in four years in a blue state by going medieval on unions, abortionists and Big Government. So Walker’s passed his first test in the challenge of proving he’s not Tim Pawlenty, and that’s a big deal given his excellent positioning in the field.
Kilgore’s “Tim Pawlenty” comment is a reference to Midwestern boringness, which has generally been seen as Walker’s chief shortcoming. You can judge for yourself if you watch his 20-minute speech in Iowa, but I’d say he still has some work to do on this score. He wasn’t terrible, but he never sounded to me like he really struck a connection with the crowd. He knew the words but not the tune—and even his words were a little too stilted and lifeless. Anytime you deliver an applause line and nothing happens, your words still need some work. And anytime you deliver an applause line, fail to wait for applause, then interrupt yourself to tell the crowd “you can clap for that, that’s all right”—well, your delivery needs some work too.
I’m on record saying that I think Walker is the strongest candidate in the Republican field. He’s got the right views, he’s got a winning record, he’s got the confrontational style tea partiers love, and he doesn’t come across as a kook. But yes, he needs to work on the whole charisma thing. If he gets serious about that, I still like his chances in the 2016 primaries.
