MADISON,
Wis. — Likely Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker made no
secret about what he saw as the failures of Mitt Romney's last run for
the White House, devoting an entire chapter of his book to the topic.
But
it turns out the Wisconsin governor, way back in 2000, also aired sharp
criticism about George W. Bush's efforts in his first presidential bid.
Walker,
who was then a 32-year-old state Assembly member, wrote an open memo to
Bush he titled "Campaign Strategy" in which he offered detailed advice
on how he thought the then-Texas governor should be crafting his message
to win the presidency, including what type of television ads he should
run.
Walker,
now in his second term as governor, is expected to launch his own
presidential campaign within the next couple months. Bush's brother, Jeb
Bush, will likely be among those duking it out with Walker for the
Republican nomination.
The
open letter to George W. Bush and the Romney critique provide a window
into Walker's thinking on how a presidential campaign should craft its
message. And while Walker has spent nearly his entire adult life in
elected office after he dropped out of college with about a year to go,
the 15-year-old memo shows that how to win the White House has been on
Walker's mind for many years.
The
advice outlined in the 800-word open letter to Bush is typical of
Walker, said Mark Graul, a Republican strategist who ran Bush's 2004
re-election campaign in Wisconsin. Graul said Walker also offered
unsolicited advice that year and in 2006, when Graul was running the
campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green.
"In
all of my conversations with him about political strategy, it's never
been about tearing the other guy down," Graul said. "It's been about
what were my guy's ideas and what was the best way to communicate it to
the people we were trying to persuade to vote for us."
In
his memo to Bush, Walker recommended specific television ads Bush
should run to help him win. He said one spot should feature "real life
families" of people such as fire fighters, nurses, construction workers
and teachers talking about how much they had saved because of Bush's tax
cuts.
Those
professions — particularly teachers — came out in force against Walker
in 2011 when he effectively ended their collective bargaining rights,
with his union-busting measure that put him on the national radar and
set the stage for his likely presidential run.
Walker
said in his memo to Bush, which was first published on his Assembly
campaign website, that his thoughts "reflect the views of the vast
majority of undecided voters who want a positive reason to vote for the
next President of the United States."
Walker
told Bush that his campaign theme should be: "They had their chance for
the past eight years and they have not led. We will."
Bush
lost Wisconsin in 2000 by just 5,708 votes, or less than a quarter of a
percentage point, on his way to defeating Democrat Al Gore for the
White House.
Democrats said Walker was looking out for himself by writing the memo to Bush in 2000.
"For
20 years, Scott Walker has been running negative campaigns for higher
office and doing anything and everything to advance his personal
political ambitions," said Wisconsin Democratic Party spokeswoman
Melissa Baldauff. "The hubris and micromanagement we see from him today
were on full display when he told George W. Bush how to run his
presidential campaign. Some things never change."
Walker
told Bush that he should focus on his work with Democrats and
Republicans to pass a middle class tax cut in Texas, and his efforts to
control health care costs and improve public schools. As he prepares for
what would be his first run for national office, Walker talks about
many of the same things that he's done as Wisconsin governor: cutting
taxes by nearly $2 billion, expanding school choice programs and kicking
people off Medicaid
who make more than the federal poverty level, while also qualifying
others who had been on a waiting list for coverage. The net effect, as
of August, was that about 40,000 more people had coverage than before.
Walker,
47, also casts himself as a "fresh faced" alternative to Democrat
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush, who served as Florida's governor
for two terms.
Walker's
criticisms of Bush are reminiscent of complaints Walker lodged against
the Romney presidential campaign in 2012. Walker spent an entire chapter
in his 2013 book "Unintimdated" explaining why he thought Romney lost
to President Barack Obama.
Walker
sent an email to Romney voicing his frustrations about his campaign's
tone and urging Romney to show more passion, get out from behind the
podium and connect directly with voters.
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