The Coming Clash Between Jeb Bush and Scott Walker

AKA SCOTT WALKER

(US News & World Report) - The first shot fired came in the form of an email to reporters a few hours after Gov. Scott Walker concluded his remarks at the Iowa Agriculture Summit on the first Saturday of this month.

The Wisconsin governor had, somewhat surprisingly, come out in favor of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires that a minimum amount of alternative fuel, like Iowa-produced ethanol, be used in gasoline and diesel sold in the U.S.

Jeb Bush, who delivered a murky response that stopped short of backing the program earlier in the day, had just capped a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was on his way to the airport to jet back to Miami. But the former Florida governor’s team of aides was diligently working their phones and laptops, shooting around an old press release and referencing Walker’s change of heart.

In 2006, during his first brief and unsuccessful run for governor, Walker had opposed ethanol mandates, arguing “we as fiscal conservatives should oppose them.”

Now, sitting pretty in the polls in the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state, he had signed on to the popular local cause. “It’s something I’m willing to go forward on,” he said, seated across from renewable advocate and GOP donor Bruce Rastetter.

Bush’s aggressive lieutenants were determined to make sure the media was fully aware of Walker’s firstclear-cut flip-flop of the pre-primary season. And just one week later, by the time Walker had landed in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state of New Hampshire, the narrative had metastasized. Read more.