DERRY — Although the emphasis was on state politics for much of the GOP Republican State Convention at Pinkerton Academy on Saturday, the party leaders did bring in a Midwest heavy hitter for the keynote speech.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the second big name politician from that state to take the stage in Derry on Saturday. Earlier in the morning, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan headlined a “victory rally” at the Pinkerton Academy gymnasium.

Much like Ryan, Walker criticized President Barack Obama for four years of failed economic policies and touted Mitt Romney and Ryan as the team with experience and ability to lift the country out of its economic malaise.

However, Walker did play up his Wisconsin roots more than Ryan did, characterizing the two states as key swing states with a fairly even divide between Democratic, Republican and independent voters.

Walker said he could sympathize with New England Patriots fans over their plight at the hands of the substitute referee ruckus in the NFL, mentioning the now infamous blown call on Monday Night Football that cost his hometown Packers a victory.

Much as the substitute referees were sent packing, Walker said it was time to send the Obama administration on its way.

“We've had 43 consecutive months of unemployment over eight percent,” said Walker. “In real terms, that's 23 million people in this country, people you go to church with, people who live down the block and maybe even people in your own family because this President's economic policies have failed the country.”

Four years ago, Walker said Obama was running on a platform of turning the economy around and fixing the budget process. Today, he said the country has faced four consecutive years of a deficit over one trillion dollars.

“Just like with the referees, we need to put someone in there who knows what they are doing,” Walker said.

The governor praised Romney's record in the private sector, in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and as the governor of Massachusetts.

Walker also took time to praise the Granite State's Republican gubernatorial candidate, noting that Ovide Lamontagne has succeeded in the private and non-profit sectors, as well as in public life. He also praised New Hampshire's Republican volunteers, who have made one million voter contacts during the election season.

“That has made a tremendous impact and we need to get back at it,” Walker said. “I firmly believe that we will win here just like we are going to win in Wisconsin and like we are going to win in America.”

Earlier in the day, Lamontagne addressed the convention delegates and criticized Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan for the role he said she played in increasing 99 taxes and fees during her time in the state senate.

“In New Hampshire in the last 16 years, there has been a Democrat in control of the governor's office for 14 years,” said Lamontagne. “The New Hampshire advantage has suffered greatly.”

He said the opportunity to chart a new course for the state is what brought him back from the private sector for the first time in 15 years.

“The good news is that there are strong governors across the country who have started to turn the states around from over regulation and over taxation,” Lamontagne said. “These strong governors are the Republican governors of America.”

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Adam Swift may be reached at aswift@newstote.com.