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 Speaking to a rowdy crowd at the Iowa State Fair, Walker took a
decidedly more anti-establishment and aggressive tone than he has
employed so far on the campaign trail, talking about taking power
from Washington and playing up the need to build a fence along the
southwest U.S. border, a much-discussed Trump priority.
Aping Trump further, Walker took credit for the immigration debate
roiling the Republican Party, saying that it stemmed from his
opposition to President Obama’s executive actions that gave some
immigrants relief from deportation.
As the governor of neighboring Wisconsin, Walker was once widely
considered the front-runner in Iowa, a critical early voting state
where he was leading in some polls as late as last month. But
Trump’s surge has knocked the wind out of his campaign. A recent CNN
poll had him in single digits in Iowa, with Trump holding a
double-digit advantage.
Walker’s largely indistinctive performance at the first Republican
debate in Cleveland this month only heightened the perception among
many in the party that his campaign is losing steam and that he is
being eclipsed not only by Trump, but by another Midwestern
governor, John Kasich of Ohio, who has also seen his poll numbers
rise.
 Iowa was once projected to be Walker’s strategic linchpin — the
jumping off point from which he would wage a national campaign. But
all anyone was talking about Monday morning as Walker arrived here
was Trump’s audacious visit to the fair on Saturday, when he first
circled the fairgrounds in his helicopter.
Trump has also shown that he is serious about building a credible
operation in the state, hiring operatives skilled at building
support at the grassroots level. Political observers say it is
likely that few rivals have been harmed more by Trump’s surging
candidacy than Walker.
“If Trump has done anything to Walker, it’s take away all the
attention he once enjoyed in Iowa,” Craig Robinson, former political
director of the Iowa Republican Party, told Reuters.
Even so, as of Monday Walker still would not go as far as Trump on
some issues. A fairgoer, Jenny Turner, asked whether Walker would
pledge, as Trump did Sunday, to deport millions of immigrants who
entered the U.S. illegally. Walker demurred, talking up the need to
“secure the border” and “enforce the law.”
That left Turner, 35, a resident of Burlington, Iowa, disappointed.
“He wouldn’t do the plain-speak,” she said afterward. “That’s what
we’re looking for, the plain talk.”
But she said she still viewed Walker’s appearance favorably. “I
think Walker is playing up the populist line because Trump is
hitting it,” she said.
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Walker’s remarks were frequently disrupted by protesters who had
traveled from Wisconsin to heckle the governor, who made curtailing
the power of public-sector unions the centerpiece of his tenure in
the state. They shouted, “You failed your state!” and “Down with
Walker!”
The rancor only seemed to energize Walker, who boasted of staring
down the thousands of protesters who packed the state capitol in
Wisconsin in 2011 in protest of his anti-union push.
“There are a lot of people who talk tough, I’m the only one who
stood up to 100,000 protesters,” he shouted over the catcalls. “I am
not intimidated!”
Anthony DeFino, 18, of Ankeny, Iowa, said he thought the exchange
boosted Walker in the eyes of conservatives in the crowd. “I think
today helped him,” DeFino said.
“To see a governor stand up and succeed is empowering,” added Joe
Carroll, 20, of Davenport, Iowa.
Walker, who said he will release a blueprint for his healthcare
reform proposal Tuesday, told the crowd he will be ramping up his
efforts in Iowa. The caucuses are in January, five months away.
“We’re going to keep coming back,” he said.
Robinson said Walker’s failure to capitalize on his early success
here has been a bigger problem for him than was Trump’s surge.
"Now team Walker is ready to go, and a lot of the excitement is
gone,” Robinson said. “You have to harvest support whenever the crop
is ready. For Walker, that was a couple of months ago.”
(Editing by Caren Bohan and Ken Wills)
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