Walker Amps Up Delegates at State Convention

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker joked to New Hampshire Republicans on Saturday that he has to stand in at their state convention because the Granite State doesn't have a GOP governor to call its own.

But he told delegates in the audience that will change come November, when he said Republican gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontagne will be elected into office.

Walker went after Lamontagne's opponent Maggie Hassan, slamming what he thought was her involvement with 53 tax increases, until the crowd abruptly corrected him that it was 99.

"It is amazing to me that someone who was for an income tax before she was against it can somehow now say she's an anti-taxer in this state," Walker said.

Walker also drew ties to himself and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, his fellow Wisconsin man who spoke at a rally in the Pinkerton Academy field house earlier in the morning.

"I figured it's appropriate you have two guys from America's dairy land in Derry here in New Hampshire," Walker said. "(Paul Ryan) was flying out literally when I flew in and I told him my plane is a little smaller than his is these days."

The two didn't stray far on their criticisms of President Obama either, as Walker echoed Ryan almost verbatim when he bashed the unemployment rate being above 8 percent.

"We need to send a message – a positive message – that there's something better," Walker said. "We have now seen the fourth consecutive budget with a deficit of more than a trillion dollars."

Walker called the Democratic agenda one that is measured by those who are dependent on the government.

"We define success by how many people are not dependent on the government," he said.

Walker took from a recent trip to Independence Hall in Philadelphia to close out his keynote, which he described as no bigger than the stage he was standing on.

He told the delegates that it was his first trip to the famous site despite his love for history.

"I grew up loving history so much I thought of our founders as superheroes – bigger than life," Walker said.

He called those of America's past "men and women of courage" who thought more about the future of their children and grandchildren more than their own political futures.

"Let this be a time when we can look back and tell our children and grandchildren someday that we were there, we were in the game," he said. "It's not just another election. This is about the future of our states and of our country. We need to act now."