Like fiscal conservatives throughout the nation, we at the Rio Grande Foundation were heartened by Scott Walker’s big win in Wisconsin this week. People on all sides of the issue are attempting to parse the results of the election and what they mean going forward.
One of the most interesting aspects of the election is that despite Walker’s big win, a variety of polls found Obama outpolling Romney in the race for President. The accuracy of these polls has been called into question, but I believe that Obama is leading Romney right now in Wisconsin.
This is good news/bad news for conservatives and advocates of limited government. Obviously, Walker received some measure of support from Obama supporters, thus showing that not ALL Obama supporters are knee-jerk advocates for bigger government and big labor. That’s good. The flip side is that conservatives are stuck with a Republican candidate who has shown no signs of being willing to make the tough choices that Walker has. This could hurt him among conservatives and independents on Election Day.
So, it would seem that nearly all conservatives and many independents are concerned about the fiscal future of their country and their state governments. If Mitt Romney can seize the mantle of reform a la Scott Walker convincingly, he has a great chance to win. If he fails to differentiate himself from Obama on government reform, Americans will likely choose to “stay the course” in November.