Scott Walker's presidential campaign off to a fighting start

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is ready to take his conservative brand of blue-collar populism to White House. The Republican governor made his long-expected Oval Office bid official Monday, first online and then in person.

Walker made an early morning announcement via Twitter, stating, “I’m in. I’m running for president because I believe Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them.”

In a video announcement a short time later, Walker said, “In the Republican field, there are some who are good fighters; they haven’t won those battles. There are others who have won elections, but haven’t consistently taken on the big fights. We showed you can do both.”

The governor continued that theme Monday night in Waukesha, Wis. He addressed a jubilant crowd against a wood-grain backdrop adorned with his campaign logo.

He noted he won three gubernatorial elections in Wisconsin in four years—his election in 2010, reelection in 2014, and a recall election in between—in a state that has not voted for a Republican president in three decades.

His 2012 recall election happened amid a fierce battle with public labor unions and their allies over sweeping labor reforms the governor signed into law. Those changes were among a list of other “big, bold reforms” enacted on his watch, he said. “We lowered taxes by $2 billion,” he said, adding that property taxes are now lower in his state than they were four years ago. Walker pointed to regulatory and welfare reforms and boasted that he “defunded Planned Parenthood and passed pro-life legislation.”

Walker also trumpeted education reforms in Wisconsin, saying, “We got rid of things like seniority and tenure. That means we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance.” The results, he claimed, were an increased high-school graduation rate and the second-best ACT scores in the country.

He promised to bring a bold, reform-minded agenda to Washington. If elected, he said, he would start by repealing Obamacare and rolling back federal regulations.

Walker pitched his economic agenda with a theory he calls the “Kohl’s Curve.” The governor explained department stores like Kohl’s make money while offering discounts: “They make it off of volume. See, they could charge a higher price and some of us could afford it, but they lower the price, broaden the base, and they make more money off of volume.” He explained tax policy should adhere to the same formula. “If you lower the rate, broaden the base, we expand the volume of people who can participate in the economy,” he said.

On foreign policy, Walker joined his many Republican rivals in bashing the policies championed by the Obama administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Under the Obama-Clinton doctrine, America is leading from behind, and that has us heading towards a disaster,” Walker said.

The U.S. must do more to beat back Russia’s aggression beyond its borders and “stop China’s cyberattacks, slow their advances into international waters, and speak out about their abysmal human rights record,” he added.

Walker, 47, is now the 15th major candidate to declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. He enters the race as the early frontrunner in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa while also performing strongly in major national polls.