Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told Minnesota delegates to the Republican National Convention that the race for president is going to be a nasty one.

“The key to our success is the truth,” the Republican governor said Tuesday at a breakfast reception for Minnesota’s RNC delegation. “If you retell the truth over and over and over, the truth will prevail.”

But, Walker warned: “The more you tell the truth, the closer to victory you get, the more vicious they will be.”

He said when things get nasty, Republicans must resist the urge to punch back and live by a higher ideal – the one Republicans are espousing during this campaign.

“That’s what we believe, that’s who we are,” he said, wearing a T-shirt and jeans.



People look at what Republicans say and how they live, Walker said during his 20-minute speech.

Walker touted his budget reforms that wiped out Wisconsin’s $3 billion budget deficit and then began replenishing cash reserves. He said he did it without draconian “pink-slip” reductions, but though using thoughtful reforms and refinements that slowly reduced the workforce by about 10 percent.

Walker said his fiscal reforms were directed “toward the next generation, not the next election.”

In June, Walker survived a historic recall election, trouncing the Democratic rival, winning more votes than he did when first elected two years ago. Walker is a featured speaker during Tuesday’s RNC session, and said he will touch on many of the themes from the breakfast speech.

Pat Anderson, an organizer, kicked off the breakfast session by saying she considers Walker “our real governor, because we don’t have a real governor,” a knock on DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

Walker was introduced by Minnesota Republican Party deputy chairman Kelly Fenton, who went to college with Walker at Marquette University.

