On Monday, Gov Scott Walker (R) WI, announced he is running for President of the United States.  He made the announcement via social media earlier in the day, and later did it in person before a cheering crowd of his supporters.  It can now be said with some certainty that the next President of the United Sates is now in the race.  That’s not to say it will necessarily be him, but there is no one left with a better chance to win yet to announce for either side.  (Gov John Kasich of Ohio is likely to announce, but likely would not make the top ten in time for the first debate.)

From Waukesha, renamed for the day by some as “Scott Walker-sha” Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker announced in person his candidacy.  He briefly described how he was raised to love America, citing two veterans, one who served in both World Wars, and another who served in Vietnam as particular inspirations for him to pursue a career in public service.

He quickly went on to his career as Governor.  He talked about how he took on the unions and won, something that made him famous among Conservatives and infamous among Progressives. He was recalled for his efforts but won and then won re-election.  Democrats used every means at their disposal to unseat him and failed.

He also touted some of his other achievements that made him popular with conservatives, “Since I’ve been Governor, we passed lawsuit reform and regulatory reform. We defunded Planned Parenthood and enacted pro-life legislation. We passed Castle Doctrine and concealed carry. And we now require a photo ID to vote in the State of Wisconsin.”

He went on to mention the three planks of his campaign platform, saying:  “Americans want to vote FOR something and FOR someone.  So let me tell you what I’m for: I’m for Reform. Growth. Safety.”

To achieve reform, he wants to take what functions of the Federal Government he can and move them to the state and local level.

“Government that is closest to the people is usually the best. This is why we should move power and money out of Washington and send it back to our states and communities in key areas like Medicaid, transportation, workforce development and education.”

For growth, he wants a full repeal of Obamacare, and replace it with free-market reforms.  He wants to roll back those federal regulations he feels are holding back the economy stating:  “…we need to rein in the federal government’s out-of-control regulations that are like a wet blanket on the economy. Yes, enforce common sense rules – but don’t add more bureaucratic red tape.”

Also with regards to growth, he repeated that call of many of his fellow Republicans to build the Keystone XL Pipeline, as part of an “all of the above” energy program.  Economically, he stopped short of an outright call for a flat tax or national sales tax, but did speak of a tax policy that lowers taxes and broadens the tax base.

Moving on to what he calls “true safety” for America, he described his foreign policy, one that implied would be modeled after President Reagan’s.  “During my lifetime,” he said, “the best president on national security and foreign policy was a Governor from California. Under his leadership, we rebuilt our military, stood up for our friends, stood up to our enemies and – without apology – stood for American values: this led to one of the most peaceful times in modern American history.”

He echoed his fellow Republicans’ call to stand with Israel and stand up to and halt Russian and Chinese expansionism and cyber attacks.   He also called for an increase in military spending, at least to the levels called for by Secretary Gates.  Governor Walker also spoke of the need to take care of our returning service members and ensure they get the medical care they need when they come home.

He mentioned immigration only indirectly, saying that the immigrants he’s spoken to did not come here to become dependent on the government, they came for the kinds of opportunity they could not get in their homelands.

Earlier in his speech, he made reference to his fellow candidates, saying some had fought for their fellow Americans, and some had won elections, but he more than the others has done both.  To conclude he came back to that same point of fighting and winning as his case for being elected president.   “Americans deserve a President who will fight and win for them.”

He has fought sometimes bitter fights against powerful political adversaries time after time and won in the Wisconsin, now he suggests he can fight for and win the nomination as well as the election for President of the United States.  It would hard not to at least acknowledge that he has a pretty fair shot of doing both.