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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who spoke Saturday at the Maine Republican Convention, was the big winner in the party’s straw poll. Paul took 26 percent of the vote, to 14 percent for the second-place finisher, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). With 690 ballots cast at the convention in Bangor, the order of finish was: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): 176 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): 98 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: 70 Dr. Ben Carson: 62 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: 60 Jeb Bush: 57 Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.): 37 Mike Huckabee: 28 Condoleezza Rice: 26

STURTEVANT, Wis. — Scott Walker is nothing if not consistent. From his time as a local official in Milwaukee a decade ago to his explosive first year as governor of Wisconsin in 2011, Mr. Walker, a Republican, has deviated little from a platform to spend less, tax less and rein in the power of public sector unions. Again and again, Mr. Walker has shown a rare aptitude for recognizing and seizing ripe political opportunities, and he has advanced himself in ways that have him being mentioned with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio and...

You need to go to the link to access this story. Again, my computer is giving me fits and will not allow me to copy the text. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walkers-son-steps-into-political-world-b99256039z1-256860291.html

Madison — Dealing unions their latest loss in court, a federal appeals court Friday upheld Gov. Scott Walker's tight limits on collective bargaining for most public employees. The ruling by the three-judge panel upheld a September decision by U.S. District Judge William Conley in Madison that the law known as Act 10 does not infringe on the rights of government workers. "Act 10 does not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. We therefore affirm the district court's judgment in favor of the state," the ruling reads. .

Literally minutes after Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch officially announced their re-election campaign Tuesday, a Hillary Clinton front group rolled out its attack machine against the Republican governor and potential 2016 presidential hopeful. American Bridge, backed by big-money liberal donor George Soros, “welcomed” Walker and his “failed job creation promise to the Wisconsin governor’s race.” The liberal “research and communications organization committed to holding Republicans accountable for their words” by employing liberal spin, made its first sortie an all-out assault on Walker’s jobs record, criticizing the governor’s failure to date to hit his ambitious pledge that the...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has had a good run lately. He signed a major tax relief package into law, his controversial budget reforms have put the state back in the black, and his opponent has been torched for telling some high-profile fibs. A new poll from Wisconsin Public Radio suggests that voters are appreciative of the governor’s accomplishments. Walker leads Democrat Mary Burke by 16 points in the survey (56/40), with Walker’s approval rating soaring to just shy of 60 percent — an all-time high in the series. (President Obama’s job approval is underwater at 48/50 in the poll). Walker’s...

The Wisconsin congressional district represented by Rep. Tom Petri (R) stands to lose nearly 2,000 jobs because of the Obama Administration’s “War on Coal,” but Petri has twice voted to let some of those more controversial – and burdensome – regulations stand. A nationwide analysis by the Heritage Foundation concludes that Wisconsin will lose an estimated 11,702 jobs thanks to Obama environmental regulations. The sixth district alone will lose more jobs than any other congressional district in the country the study concludes. ... Petri was the only Republican from Wisconsin to vote against suspending the rule. Voting with Petri was...

Madison — A federal judge kept alive a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to throw out a long-running secret investigation of fundraising and spending by conservative groups during Wisconsin's recent recall elections. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and others have been looking into whether the Wisconsin Club for Growth or others illegally coordinated with any candidates during the recalls. In the most prominent race, Gov. Scott Walker in June 2012 became the first governor in the country's history to survive a recall election. The Club for Growth and one of its directors, Eric O'Keefe, in February sued prosecutors, investigators and the...

It's not likely the race for president in 2016 will pit former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol predicted. "I'm willing to go out on a limb," Kristol told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. "I think there's no way there will be a Bush-Clinton race in 2016."

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is betting bottles of big name bourbon on the Final Four game when the University of Kentucky takes on the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday in Dallas. Beshear and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made a friendly wager Tuesday on the game, betting items from the signature industries of each state. The Kentucky bourbon basket wagered by Beshear will include some of the state’s most well-known Bourbon brands such as Woodford Reserve, Maker’s Mark, Four Roses, Elijah Craig and others as well as glasses and apparel. If Kentucky wins, Beshear will receive a gift of some of Wisconsin’s...

MADISON, Wis. — Of all the national casualties expected from the Obama administration’s “War on Coal,” manufacturers in Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District could be hit the hardest. That’s the finding of a new analysis, published by the conservative Heritage Foundation, that tracks the long-term economic impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions — strict standards that, industry officials assert, would all but kill construction of new coal-fired power plants and force existing facilities into early retirement. Energy expert Nicolas Loris analyzed the effects of a 20-year phase-out of coal. His study projects significant job loss...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Thursday signed a measure into law that eliminates absentee voting on weekends ahead of elections but vetoed a provision that restricted weekday voting hours across the state. Wisconsin law allows voters to cast absentee ballots by mail or hand them in to their polling places before election day. Supporters have said the new law creates uniform and fair rules, while critics have said it disenfranchises voters. Walker, a Republican who is seeking re-election, vetoed a part of the bill the majority Republican legislature approved that capped voting at 45 hours per week. Voting will be...

A push by the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson to outlaw online gambling has ignited a bitter civil war in the gambling industry, dividing one of Washington’s most powerful interest groups and posing a major test of the Republican megadonor’s political clout. Mr. Adelson’s effort officially kicked off on Wednesday, when lawmakers, including a senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from the businessman and his family, introduced legislation originally drafted with Mr. Adelson’s lobbyist. The bill would close a three-year-old loophole in federal law, banning online gambling — a growing industry that Mr....

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and profligate Republican bankroller, would like to spend his fortune on a winning candidate in 2016. That's because Adelson and his wife dumped almost $93 million on the 2012 elections — nearly four times more than any other individual — most of it on losing candidates. And while that sum included $30 million for eventual GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, much of it was also wasted propping up Newt Gingrich's shaky primary campaign, and on various losing candidates around the country.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who along with his wife plowed more than $92 million into efforts to help mostly losing candidates in the 2012 elections, is undertaking a new strategy for 2016 — to tap his fortune on behalf of a more mainstream Republican with a clear shot to win the White House, according to people familiar with his thinking. In 2012, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson spent so much of their money on long-shot candidate Newt Gingrich that they helped extend an ugly intraparty fight that left the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, severely bruised by the time he faced President...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker believes he can do all things through Christ, but an atheist group charges that he cannot do all things through Christ on his official social media platforms. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has demanded Walker remove posts from his official Facebook and Twitter feeds that read, “Philippians 4:13.” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” the verse reads. “This braggadocio verse coming from a public official is rather disturbing,” FFRF co-presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Baker wrote in a letter to the governor. “To say, ‘I can do all things through Christ,...

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday took a shot at the mainstream media and even some conservative outlets for underreporting on the success of Gov. Scott Walker (R) in Wisconsin. Limbaugh cited an Associated Press report run Wednesday on page A14 of the New York Times about the Wisconsin Assembly passing Walker’s $504 million tax-cut plan. As previously reported by TheBlaze, Walker intends to use part of Wisconsin’s projected $977 million surplus to pay for property and income tax cuts.

Atheists are so outraged that Governor Scott Walker, has the phrase, Philippians 4:13, underscoring his name on Facebook and Twitter that they’re threatening to sue him to make him take it down

RUSH: The New York Times. What is this, a tiny little paragraph? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 lines. National Briefing, Midwest. It's page A14 of the New York Times today. Here's the headline: "Wisconsin: Assembly Passes Governor’s Tax-Cut Plan -- The Wisconsin Assembly has passed Gov. Scott Walker’s $504 million tax-cut plan. The chamber approved the bill on Tuesday by a vote of 61 to 35." It wasn't even close

One percenter Mary Burke, Democrat for governor, is telling the Koch Brothers to stay out of Wisconsin. Our Ms. Burke and her largely self-funded campaign have purchased web ads on Wisconsin news websites warning, "Tell the Koch Brothers: Stay Out of Wisconsin." Click on the ad and you’re taken to an appeal from the Burke campaign. Problem is, the Kochs are already in Wisconsin. With paper mills in Green Bay, Neenah and Sheboygan employing thousands. With refining, chemicals and biofuels operations in Junction City, Waupun, Madison and Milwaukee employing hundreds more. With asphalt plants in Green Bay and Stevens Point...