MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Gov. Scott Walker will use his State of the State speech to outline an election-year set of priorities built on some long-held Democratic priorities while appealing to conservatives with further toughening of state welfare program requirements.
Walker's eighth State of the State Wednesday comes as the state's unemployment level is tied for record low and as more than a dozen Democrats see a chance to knock off the two-term Republican incumbent in November.
Walker has previewed the themes he plans to cover in the weeks leading up to the speech. They include further overhauling the state's welfare system, bolstering the private insurance market to lower rates, overhauling the state's juvenile prison system, investing more in rural schools and in rural economic development.