Walker’s High Spendin’, Debt Raisin’ Budget

[DonViejo]

Betsy Woodruff

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker talks a good fiscal conservative game on the campaign trail, but his new budget tells a different story.

Scott Walker isn't a bona fide presidential candidate yet—but he sure is polling like one. But as conservative as his potential 2016 platform has become, his state budget tells a different story.

After being stellified at Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit in January, the Wisconsin Republican governor has seen his political stock rise inexorably, with good-news poll after good-news poll.

The latest Quinnipiac poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers shows him in first place with a comfy nine-point lead over Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, who are tied for second.

There’s just one itsy bitsy little thing in between the governor and his big announcement: the budget. Since he laid out his budget proposal in February, it’s attracted predominantly negative press attention and stirred up considerable controversy in his home state.

His luck with the budget is almost an inversion of his national political trajectory - in the same way that he’s drawn adulation from conservative crowds in New Hampshire and Iowa, he’s drawn rancor from conservative lawmakers in Madison.

The same day that Quinnipiac released its glowing results, the state’s version of the Congressional Budget Office released a report that had even more bad news for Madison Republicans. Due to these tensions, Walker looks set to wrap up budgeting season not with a bang, but a whimper. And the situation could cast a pall over his campaign rollout.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/07/walker-s-high-spendin-debt-raisin-budget.html