BEACHWOOD, Ohio — “The main thing,” said Iowa Republican chairman Jeff Kaufmann at his delegation’s breakfast before the start of the Republican National Convention, “is no Hillary Clinton.”
That reflected the tone of the delegation from the state where Ted Cruz defeated Trump in the caucuses back in February. There was at best grudging support for Trump.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker used the name Trump only once in his 25-minute speech. Walker began his keynote at the breakfast by saying, “America deserves better than Barack Obama. America deserves better than Hillary Clinton.”
Walker was nine minutes into his talk before his first mention of Trump. “The press sometimes ask me what I think about our nominee, and he wasn’t my first pick,” joked Walker, a former candidate himself. Walker mentioned Trump by name only once, and his endorsement was very narrow.
Walker recalled how during the debate process he said, “Any of the candidates on the Republican side are better than Hillary Clinton. I’m here to say it that I meant it then and I meant it now.”
“I hope you understand that Donald Trump is better — better than Hillary Clinton.” Speaking to reporters after his talk, Walker did say his convention speech would be on why to elect Trump.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, speaking for 15 or 20 minutes after Walker, made only one reference to Trump — not by name, but as “our candidate for president.”
Delegate Chuck Petterson of Persia, Iowa, told me before the breakfast that he supports Cruz. He said of Trump, “I won’t support him, but I’ll vote for him.” Why? Cruz is a conservative and Trump “is a jerk,” Pettersen put it.
“We’re gonna be a family this week. We may not give a lot of hugs …” Kaufmann said in introducing Walker. “Nobody says a family can’t be dysfunctional.”
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
