Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — the Republican 2016 presidential candidate who could benefit most from Mitt Romney’s decision not to run again — says he agrees with Romney’s assessment that it’s time for new blood atop the GOP.
“People want new, fresh leadership with big, bold ideas, and the courage to act on it,” Walker said on ABC’s “This Week,” as he also offered praise for a potential 2016 opponent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
“And if we’re going to take on a name from the past, which is likely to be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, I think for the party we need a name from the future,” Walker said.
His comments came as a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll showed Walker, with 15% support, at the head of a tightly packed Republican field in the key early caucuse state of Iowa.
Walker also talked foreign policy, saying he’d keep the door open to putting U.S. troops on the ground in Syria to combat ISIS.
“I wouldn’t rule anything out,” he said. “I think when you have the lives of Americans at stake and our freedom loving allies anywhere in the world, we have to be prepared to do things that don’t allow those measures, those attacks, those abuses to come to our shores.”
He deflected a question about his specific approach to immigration, saying he’d lay that out in more detail if he became a presidential candidate. But in a veiled shot at President Barack Obama’s move to forestall some deportations, he said he’s “not for amnesty.”
“We need to enforce the laws in the United States, and we need to find a way for people to have a legitimate legal immigration system in this country, and that does not mean amnesty,” Walker said.