MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Governor Scott Walker will at least walk toward the starting line in the 2016 presidential race, when he speaks in Iowa in a couple months.

The Republican Walker is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Polk County GOP spring fundraiser in West Des Moines on May 23rd.

It’s Walker’s first foray into a state that leads off the presidential nominating contests with its January caucuses.

Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann have headlined the Polk County event in past years.

Walker recently said he enjoys the attention and speculation that comes with being a possible White House hopeful. But for now, at least, Walker shies away from actually running, saying he needs to pay full attention to Wisconsin during its deliberations on a new state budget.

Walker has enjoyed widespread support from conservatives since 2011, since he proposed the law which virtually ended collective bargaining by most public employee unions. And Walker continues to appear in the national spotlight, speaking this weekend to the nation’s largest annual conservative gathering in Washington.