Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker walks off the stage after speaking at the Freedom Summit in Des Moines in January. (REUTERS/Jim Young)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has quickly become an early favorite in Iowa.
Walker has yet to announce that he will run for president, but he's leading in many early polls, including one Tuesday showing him well ahead of the rest of the GOP field. As he traveled around Iowa this past weekend -- from Cedar Rapids to the northwest corner of the state to the Des Moines suburbs -- he was greeted by small crowds of excited Republicans eagerly wanting to introduce themselves. The Capital Times in Madison described their governor's roadtrip as having "all the buzz of a touring rock star."
Why do Iowans like this guy so much? After following Walker around for the weekend and talking with Iowans along the way, I have three theories:
1) He describes himself as a fighter who won't back down.
Those tasked with introducing Walker at events nearly always point out that the governor won three elections in four years -- two regular ones, plus a recall election -- in a state that voted twice for President Obama. Walker often started his stump speech with a dramatic retelling of how he took on the powerful unions in Wisconsin in 2011 and endured nasty protests and death threats against his family. That ordeal has defined Walker's time as governor, catapulting him onto this national stage.
When I asked Iowa Republicans what exactly they liked about Walker, this was usually the first thing they mentioned. But it wasn't always because they loathed unions (although several really did). Some said that after seeing so many politicians become more moderate in their views to win elections, they found Walker's perceived steadfastness refreshing. They didn't seem to care that some of Walker's stances on national issues like immigration have seemed to change in recent months.
"I certainly admire the fight he took in Wisconsin," said Rick Stewart, 63, a former herb entrepreneur who lives in Cedar Rapids and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate as an independent last year. "I was pretty impressed."
2) He is very Midwestern.
Walker likes to remind Iowans that he lived in their state for seven years as a child in the 1970s, when Chuck Grassley was new to Congress and Happy Chef diners were popular. During a lunchtime rally in Cedar Rapids, Walker told the small crowd that more than 40 years ago, he and his grandparents were driving through Dubuque when the wheel of their car flew off and "went right down the way, right by where the courthouse is."
His message: I'm one of you. "It’s great to be back in Iowa," Walker said at the rally. "Having lived here and being across the Mississippi in the Midwest, I understand what you’re talking about."
Walker talks and acts like a lot of Iowans talk and act. The things that connect them are subtle: He describes distance as either "up the way" or "down the way." He brags about deals he found at Kohls and wears suits from Jos. A Bank that don't perfectly fit. He is at times boring, as is his usual brown-bag lunch containing a ham-and-cheese sandwich from home. He jokes about slowly losing his hair. Oh, and he's an Eagle Scout.
"He's as common as an old shoe, no pretense," said Fred R. Johnson of Cedar Rapids, a longtime, active member of the Linn County GOP who is a fan of Walker. "People are looking for someone who is honest... He's not the smartest man in the world, but that's okay. What he says, he does."
3) He's a religious man of prayer -- but not too aggressively religious.
At every stop, Walker thanked Iowans who prayed for him and his family over the years as he took on the unions -- and asked them to keep going. Walker is the son of a Baptist preacher, and he has said that his evangelical faith is at the core of his identity. But unlike some of the other potential presidential candidates, he focuses tightly on prayer and doesn't delve too deeply into his personal journey with God.
At a Friday night GOP fundraiser dinner in U.S. Rep. Steve King's district in northwest Iowa, one of the most conservative parts of the state, Walker said that he gave fellow Wisconsinite Paul Ryan one piece of advice in 2012 when he ran for vice president: embrace those who say that they're praying for you.
"I said: 'Paul, nobody says that if they don't mean it. That's not a throwaway,'" Walker said. "I said: 'Paul you need to reach out and touch them, because you can feel the power of prayer.'"
Sherill Whisenand, co-chairwoman of the Polk County GOP who has seen Walker speak a handful of times, said that Iowa has gained a reputation of being filled only with zealous evangelicals with far-right stances on social issues. She agreed there are a significant number of such voters -- especially during the caucuses -- but there are many more voters like her, "rank-and file" religious Republicans. "We, as Midwesterners, are religious," she said. "We're proud to be religious."
At a forum organized by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition in the Des Moines suburbs on Saturday night, Walker was the last of nine likely candidates to take the stage before a crowd of more than 1,000 conservative churchgoers. Earlier in the night, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the most important moment in his life was not when he got married or when his children were born -- it was "the moment that I found Jesus Christ." Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, told the audience about how he was lost as a young man until God stripped him down to his core, at which point he dedicated his life "to serve our Lord." And Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, said her "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" saved her from "a desperate sadness" following the death of her step-daughter.
Walker focused on prayer. He told the crowd about a 52-year-old dairy farmer who died of a heart attack just before the recall election in 2012 -- but his widow and two adult children still went to the polls to vote. Walker said he met with this widow and shared with her a reading from the devotional, "Jesus Calling." He then opened the devotional and read aloud a passage about tightly griping God's hand during trying times. The pace of camera clicks furiously quickened.
Walker said that experience reminded him that "the best way to minister is to accept God's callings at the time when you least expect it." He said his decision to run for governor was the result of praying with his wife and being "called to do the right thing."
"In life, it's about accepting that calling, no matter what it might be," Walker said. "And I'm glad we did what we did in Wisconsin because today, some four years later, our state is better because of it."
Jenna Johnson is a political reporter who is covering the 2016 presidential campaign.
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