Back in April we covered the guy who was convinced Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker would win by never admitting to be wrong. Today, before a single primary has been run, Walker dropped out. His exit message is intriguing, as reported by Talking Points Memo:
Walker said he was reminded at church that the Bible “is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in unusual ways.”
“Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field,” Walker said. “With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately.”
He went on to directly take on Trump, who has dominated the rest of the field in the polls since getting into the race this summer.
“I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner,” Walker added.
It sounds like he may have been ordered to stop campaigning and just take out the frontrunner, doesn’t it? He’s young enough that he could run again next cycle, or the next, or the one after that. His support in the polls has dropped from top tier to miniscule as many polls have noted. Here’s one from HuffPo with commentary from Sam Wang at the Princeton Electoral Consortium:
Considering Fiorina’s problems with accuracy and her dismal performance as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, it seems likely that her rise will also be transient. If 2012 is a guide, she will last one or two months then fade, just as Cain, Gingrich, Santorum, and Bachmann did – and now, maybe Donald Trump.
Walker’s fallen below 2% and Jeb! is stuck around 8%. Assuming those trends persist, the highest-finishing serious candidate is Marco Rubio. As I have said before (link to The New Republic), Rubio is a relatively likely consensus candidate. In the past, the GOP has usually settled on a strong general-election candidate. Rubio polls relatively well against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. If the past is a guide, then at some point party donors/actors and primary voters may fall into line.
Uff-da – Rubio? The guy who thinks we’re in existential danger, the like of which has never been seen before?
Well, it’s hard to knock the guy with his money on Walker – this entire season has been enormously erratic, not to mention entertaining for those of us with a taste for moral abominations, which resembles most of the GOP field. Given Minnesota’s close-up view of Walker, I suppose I’m not surprised at his implosion; the next question is where will he land? Will he run again for Governor after his current term, or would they boot him out? Is there a secure position awaiting him somewhere?
I remember how the late Minnesota Senator Rod Grams awaited such a position after being booted out after one term as Senator – and nothing ever arose, despite the dominance of the Republicans in that period.
