Fresh off of retaining Republican control of Wisconsin's state Senate, Gov. Scott Walker is headed across the border to deliver one of the kenote speeches at the Midwest Leadership Conference hosted by the Minnesota GOP this fall.

The conference, set for Oct. 7 and 8 in Bloomington, will include about 1,500 Republican leaders and activists from the party's Midwest, which includes Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois.

Announcing Walker's appearance on Wednesday, state Republican Chairman Tony Sutton crowed in a prepared statement, "despite millions of dollars and man hours spent by the Democrat Party and its allies on the Wisconsin recall elections, Republicans maintained their majority status in the Wisconsin Senate. Last night, the people of Wisconsin affirmed their support of Gov. Walker and Republicans.

In the run-up to the six recall elections, of which Republicans won four, party volunteers from Minnesota traveled to western Wisconsin to help GOP senators.

The party's presidential hopefuls also have been invited to the conference.