M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Walker jabs at Bush, calls for a 'fresh' GOP face

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is jabbing again at Jeb Bush, arguing the Republican Party needs a “fresh face” to draw a significant contrast with likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“I hope Republicans, I hope independents and even some discerning Democrats will see that we’re striking a stark contrast with Hillary Clinton,” the governor said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “You know, we’re a new fresh face taking on someone from the past.”


Walker, who is all but certain to announce a bid for the GOP presidential nomination shortly after the Wisconsin budget is finished in the next few weeks, jabbed again at Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida, while declining to answer a question directly about whether he’s the GOP front-runner.

“I think Gov. Bush is still probably up there, up front because he’s going to have more money than just about all of us combined,” he said.

Bush has taken flack from some GOP activists for spending more time fundraising and less time meeting with voters in Iowa and other early caucus and primary states. Walker and several other hopefuls — but not Bush — were in Boone, Iowa, Saturday for Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride.”

Walker, though, offered some praise for another top-tier GOP candidate — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Asked whether he’ rule out a senator becoming the Republican presidential nominee, Walker said he’d prefer a governor but that he has “real confidence” in Rubio.

Walker also said in the interview he’s not now calling for the U.S. to send ground combat troops into Iraq to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but that he “would not rule out boots on the ground.”

Walker, who rode a motorcycle with Ernst on Saturday to her pig roast and addressed the crowd, has catapulted to the top of the Iowa polls and is near the top of most national polls. He’s reached out to top GOP donors as well as the conservative base, and several Republican insiders see him as an electable bona fide conservative.