Scott Walker: Talk is cheap, voters want proven leadership

Walker: Talk is cheap, voters want proven leadership

What must Wis. Gov. Scott Walker do to reignite his presidential campaign? Before Wednesday's GOP debate, he went 'On the Record'

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," September 16, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Right now, ON THE RECORD, GOP presidential candidate, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The governor has a big challenge tonight, to regain the support that slipped away. Governor Scott Walker goes ON THE RECORD right now. Good evening, Governor.

SCOTT WALKER, 2016 GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Greta, great to be with you. Thanks for having me on.

VAN SUSTEREN: Governor, according to an aide to your campaign, anonymous, I don't know who it is, but to NBC is that if you get a chance tonight to mix it up you are going to do that. What does that mean?

WALKER: Well, I think show people the kind of passion I had throughout the protests and throughout the recalls. You know we're here at the Reagan Library, clearly my favorite President, probably the best president at least in the last 100 years or longer here. And people forget in the fall of '79 he had his own challenges to his campaign. But he hunkered down and he focused on his great record as a governor here in California. And more importantly, he laid out optimistic vision for America. I think tonight we want to be clear that we don't need people talking about how bad things are. We need people talking about how much better we can make things with the right leadership in Washington, and I'm going to lay out that plan very clearly.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, well why hasn't the plan so far apparently resonated? You spent a lot of time in Iowa. And I know that you have said you have won all these contestants before in Wisconsin. But what I don't get all those things has been said. So how do you at this point in time capture the attention of the GOP Voters?

WALKER: Well, I think people want to see some passion. They want to see an aggressive sense that people aren't angry. What they are is they have a sense of urgency and they want a leader who understands that urgency, who is willing to take on just not Obama and the Democrats, but take on our own party leadership. People have had had it with Washington. You know we were told last year in the Republicans gain the United States Senate they would vote to repeal ObamaCare. Well, here we are after Labor Day and they still haven't taken that vote.

I'm the only one you'll see on the stage with me tonight who's actually got a plan, we call it the Day One Patient Freedom Plan. On day one, I call for repealing ObamaCare and to get the Congress to act, actually on day one I will sign an executive order requiring the Congress, their staffs, and their families to live under the same rules. I think the more people look at our solutions, the clearer it's going to be. And right now voters in states like Iowa where I was just at last weekend.

They say to me, hey, you are one of our top two or three candidates out there. There is still plenty of time going forward. We have made a case. We have just laid out 99 the chairs in each of the counties in Iowa. We are going to be aggressive.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, let me ask you about your plan. Your healthcare plan -- you came on this show a couple weeks, maybe a couple months ago and laid it out. In spite of that, since that point, your numbers have actually gone down. Donald Trump's have risen. Dr. Ben Carson has risen. Carly Fiorina has risen. Why, if you have got the plan are your numbers slipping and theirs are going up?

WALKER: Because I think people want to send a clear message that they have had it with Washington, and so they're looking to candidates right now as far removed and never held office out there. But in the end, I believe voters want more than someone who can just fight someone who can just lay out what's wrong. They want someone who can do something about it. I have fought, I have won. I have gotten results. In the end we did it without compromising our conservative principles. I believe in the end, just like Reagan wasn't ahead at this point in the end when we get our message out, not just about our record but about our solutions, voters want someone, not just a novice. We have a novice in the White House right now. That hasn't worked very well for America. We need someone who has actually proven they can lead without compromising. We have done it in a blue state. We can do it for America.

VAN SUSTEREN: Ok. Some of your colleagues have tried to remove Donald Trump from the top tier by saying he is not a conservative. Is Donald Trump, in your view a conservative?

WALKER: I think voters should look at him issue by issue and where he has been in the past.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think so?

WALKER: Well, on a lot of issues he hasn't been in the past. I think he is going to have to answer for that tonight not just for me but for the American people. And in the end what they want -- I think what voters want is someone who they believe will take on the mess in Washington. You can say all you want. You know, talk is cheap. What we need are people who have got proven leadership, people who have actually taken on the mess. You know it, Greta. You were the first to cover all the 100,000 protesters and other in my state capital. We took on the big government union bosses. We took on the Washington based special interests. We won those elections, but more importantly we won those battles.

And if American voters want a conservative who has actually proven and has got real solutions for the future, we're the only one on the stage that fits that bill tonight.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Governor, just to correct you one thing, you say my state. It's my state as well. Anyway, I always tell you that go Badgers.

WALKER: Go Packers.

VAN SUSTEREN: Anyway, Governor, thank you very much. We are looking forward to watching the debate. Thank you, sir.

WALKER: Good to be with you, Greta. Thanks.