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Walker: It's easier if you're ahead the whole time
03:07 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker struck back at Hillary Clinton Saturday over the Democratic presidential candidate’s suggestion that he and other 2016 hopefuls were intentionally preventing minorities from voting by enacting tough ID laws.

Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash at the Iowa Roast and Ride, a weekend motorcycle ride and gathering hosted by freshman Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, Walker said his state’s new legislation “makes it easier to vote but hard to cheat.”

RELATED: GOP hits back at Hillary Clinton on voting rights

“That’s something that I feel Hillary Clinton’s opposition to puts her out of touch with mainstream Americans,” Walker said, standing inside a Harley-Davidson barn at the event. “Pulling out a photo ID is a perfectly logical and common sense thing to do.”

Clinton made the comments earlier this week, calling out Walker and other declared and potential Republican presidential candidates by name on the matter. She called on them to “stop fear-mongering about a phantom epidemic of voter fraud.”

But Walker said his state makes it free to obtain a photo ID, removing what he called any “economic barrier” to voting.

A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll released last week found Walker enjoying a 7-point advantage among Iowan voters over the rest of the crowded Republican 2016 field. Iowa, with its first-in-the-nation caucuses, is a critical battleground state.

So what makes the Wisconsin governor so popular in the Hawkeye State?

“I think what people want more than ever, not just among Republicans but independents and others, is they want someone who can fight and win on the battles that matter,” he said. “Not just elections, but win other battles. And I think when people look at what we’ve done, they’ll say, ‘here’s a guy who fights and wins.’”

Walker is expected to announce his candidacy later this summer after completing work on his state’s budget. Although he wouldn’t indicate Saturday whether he was officially joining the race, he mentioned that he has his eye on at least one presidency.

“I’ve joked for a long time it would be a lot more fun to be president of the Harley-Davidson corporation,” he said.

“I love my bike, and I love the people associated with it,” he added. “But I don’t know if ultimately that would be our choice.”