Hillary Clinton 2016: Scott Walker Slams Likely Democratic Front-runner, Prepares For Potential Run For President

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gave another indication Thursday night that he might make a run for president in 2016 when he gave the keynote speech at a three-day Republican National Committee conference that attacked Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and likely Democratic presidential contender. Walker’s speech slammed Clinton as a Washington insider, the same attack the Wisconsin governor can use on Republican senators, including Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, also possibly vying for the White House in 2016.

“She lives in Washington. She works in Washington. She came to Washington through this president and his administration,” Walker said, according to Politico. “She was in Washington when she was a United States senator. She was in Washington when her husband was president of the United States. You look at everything that people dislike about Washington, and she embodies it.”

Walker, a two-term governor popular with the tea party movement for trying to rein in the power of organized labor, appeared to also take shots at Paul and Rubio, although he didn’t mention the senators by name. “Washington isn’t the place with the answers that we’re looking for,” he said. “I think the states are where we get things done.” The governor also sounded like a presidential candidate in his state of the state address earlier this week when he urged Democrats and Republicans to denounce anyone who threatens "freedom anywhere in this world."

The 47-year-old Wisconsin governor branded himself as a “new, fresh leader” in his speech Thursday night. “I want to share a vision: I think we have a unique opportunity going forward, not only for the good of this party but, more importantly, for the good of the country, to find a new, fresh leader out there who can take big bold ideas, take ideas that come from of outside of Washington, from the states all the way down to the grassroots,” Walker said, according to Time magazine. “We need someone who hopefully has the backing and the track record of success, of showing that common sense conservative reforms can work not just in Wisconsin, but they can work all across America.”

If Walker makes a run for the GOP nomination in 2016, he’ll likely hold the distinction of being the only candidate without a college degree. Walker said he doesn’t believe the lack of a diploma affects his viability. He could become the first person without a college degree to be elected president since Harry Truman.

"I've got a master’s degree in taking on the big-government special interests, and I think that is worth more than anything else that anybody can point to,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week.