By Gene Lyons, NEA Columnist

Economically speaking, all 237 GOP presidential candidates are selling the same Magic Beans.

Everybody knows the script. Tax cuts for wealthy "job creators" bring widespread prosperity. Top off Scrooge McDuck's bullion pool, and the benefits flow outward to everybody else. The economy surges, budget deficits melt away, and the song of the turtledove will be heard in the land.

Almost needless to say, these "supply side" miracles have never actually happened in the visible world. State budget debacles in Kansas and Louisiana only signify the latest failures of right-wing dogma. Hardly anybody peddling Magic Beans actually believes in them anymore. Nevertheless, feigning belief signifies tribal loyalty to the partisan Republicans who will choose the party's nominee.

However, with everybody in the field playing "let's pretend," a candidate needs another way to distinguish himself. I suspect that Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin may have found it. See, Walker won't just put money back in "hardworking taxpayer's" pockets.

Like a latter-day Richard Nixon, Walker will also stick it to people they don't like: Lollygagging schoolteachers, feather-bedding union members and smug, tenured college professors who think they're smarter than everybody else. If he lacks charisma, there's an edge of ruthlessness in Walker's otherwise bland demeanor that hits GOP primary voters right where they live.