Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was the first to fold. Now current Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker has decided to give up his political aspirations of becoming President of the United States, at least for the 2016 race.
Just yesterday, a senior advisor for Walker’s campaign told the Daily Caller that Walker and his team believed the governor was “going to come back. Gov. Walker is in this; he’s not getting out.”
So much for that.
In just a couple of minutes at 5pm Central Time, Governor Walker is supposed to give a news conference in Madison, Wisconsin, where he’ll make it official that he is dropping out of the race.
The New York Times reported [8:30pm: link now redirects to updated story—CO2.]:
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has concluded he no longer has a path to the Republican presidential nomination and plans to drop out of the 2016 campaign, according to three Republicans familiar with his decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity. …
“The short answer is money,” said a supporter of Mr. Walker’s who was briefed on the decision. “He’s made a decision not to limp into Iowa.”
The supporter said Mr. Walker’s fund-raising had dried up after his decline in the polls and that campaign officials did not feel they could risk going into debt with the race so uncertain. The governor, who was scheduled to be in New York and Washington this week, partly to raise money, had built up an expansive staff, bringing on aides and consultants detailed to everything from Christian conservative outreach to Super Tuesday states. But his fund-raising did not keep pace with the money needed to sustain such an infrastructure. …
In the most recent CNN survey, Mr. Walker drew support nationally from less than one-half of one percent of Republican primary voters. He faced growing pressure to shake up his campaign staff, a step he was loath to take, according to Republicans briefed on his deliberations. …
“Donors have totally dried up for Walker, and getting people to come on Thursday was unbelievably hard,” said one of the donors. “Everyone I know was just totally stunned by how difficult the fund-raising became, but the candidate and the campaign just couldn’t inspire confidence.”
In the months when he was exploring the idea of running for president, Walker at times polled higher than those who were actually in the race. Once he jumped in back in July, he was still among the top tier of candidates in the polls, often second only to Donald Trump.
But the nation’s focus on Trump killed any hope Walker might have had of getting the GOP nomination.
So two candidates with impressive résumés have had to go back to what they were doing. In Walker’s case, he’s going back to directing his attention to the state he governs.
While I find it disappointing to see someone who proved he can walk the walk (no pun intended) sink so fast because a quarter to a third of Republicans believe a celebrity billionaire who doesn’t think before he speaks and has highly questionable motives is the key to victory in 2016, I am relieved that Walker can get back to work here in Wisconsin. Whoever he decides to endorse should count him or herself lucky.
When the talk of Walker running for president was bandied about, I was apprehensive of the idea. I believed that he hadn’t been governor long enough. I believed he needed more experience.
With all the trouble that the teachers, unions, and the Left in general threw his way with them camping out and chanting and yelling and stampeding and stinking up the Capitol rotunda…
With the state Democratic lawmakers fleeing to another state because they were too childish to vote in futility…
With the death threats that psychotics directed at him, his family, and other Republicans in the state…
With the constant campaigning to stay in office because liberals just couldn’t accept him as their governor…
With the vicious and fruitless John Doe investigations that provided even more distraction…
And now with him having dipped his toe in the national waters…
Walker hasn’t been able to keep his eyes centered on the job he was elected to do.
Maybe now he can, at least for a little while. His current term as governor ends in 2018. So he’ll be back to campaigning in due time. But for a couple more years, anyway, he can continue driving the liberals crazy right here on the state level. Who knows what else he can accomplish. If, heaven forbid, a change is needed in 2020, Scott’s accomplishments could look pretty attractive on his résumé.
I wouldn’t call this a humiliation for Scott, as the NYT put it. It just might not be his time yet. Perhaps The Trump did Governor Walker a favor. Time will tell.
As for the others who are still in the Republican race for the Oval Office, they all had better get serious right now and kick their campaigns into high gear if they want to stick around for much longer, because Trump still has the momentum for some reason I may never understand.
Update:
Noah Rothman at Commentary Magazine makes a strong case that Walker was the master of his own undoing in this race. I have to agree that the governor had a number of missteps that the media beat to death. They hate Scott Walker with a passion for what he’s done in Wisconsin, and they played up any inconsistency of his that they could. He avoided a lot of their bait, but he fell for it a few times, too, and he ended up shooting himself in the foot when he did.
But one cannot discount the Trump Effect. This race would be proceeding in a much different different fashion if Donald had not felt like engaging in this current recreational activity he’s undertaken. A number of other very good candidates are destined to fall very soon, I imagine. Let’s at least hope that a few of the lousier candidates will take the hint and drop out, too.
Via Milwaukee station WTMJ, here is video of the news conference where Scott Walker announced his withdrawal from the race:
