Politics –
Scott Walker Quits GOP Race
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ended his brief bid for the Republican nomination for president on Monday, narrowing the GOP race to a whopping 16 candidates.
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Scott Walker, a Republican governor in the predominately Democratic State of Wisconsin, believed his success in local politics could turn a blue state into red. However, his candidacy never really caught fire with voters and, just like Rick Perry before him, he ran out of money, momentum and a clear reason to remain in the race.
Instead of facing the realities of his lackluster campaign, Walker used his concession speech to blame GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for his demise. He argued that Trump’s popularity with base voters was reason enough why he and other struggling GOP candidates should drop out of the race, so as to clear a path for “positive conservative” candidates who can successfully defeat Trump.
“Today I believe I’m 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. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately,” Walker said. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to do the same so that voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner. This is fundamentally important to the future of the party, more importantly, to the future of our country.”
Only 3 months into his candidacy, Scott Walker chose to ignore his plummeting in recent polls and his inability to take a consistent stand on a number of important GOP issues. As recently as June, Walker led the crowded Republican field in Iowa, where his candidacy was expected to soar among the state’s powerful social conservatives. Then surges from outsider candidates Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina happened. Despite none of them having any formal government experience, they each completely drowned out Walker’s anti-establishment campaign.
As of this past weekend, the writing was on the wall for Walker. A CNN/ORC poll released on Sunday found that Walker registered less than half a percentage point of support among Republican voters. Hopes that his background as a conservative firebrand who prevailed in 3 gubernatorial campaigns over 5 years against immense pressure from Democrats, were suddenly irrelevant. His standing as the favorite of the well-financed and extremely powerful Koch Brothers had dried up. It was over.
Politics
Interestingly, the image of Scott Walker disappearing into the sunset is not what voters were left with on Monday. A former, “very bitter” aide saw to that.
Former advisor Liz Mair took to Twitter on Monday with a scathing critique of Scott Walker and his campaign, blaming the governor’s sagging poll numbers not on the anti-establishment political climate, but more on his enormous number of strategic blunders.
Mair laid the majority of the blame on poor advice from campaign advisers who did not know Walker well and did not help him play to his political strengths.
However, Mair did say that Walker made one correct decision: getting out now. Ouch!
“Today I believe I’m 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. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately,” Walker said. [….] So let me get this straight. First – he was "called" to jump int the race for President and now he's "called to lead the way" in dropping out!?! Sounds like the god he serves is confused(?) Or…Walker is just a cynical piece of umm…work…using religion (AGAIN) to justify his sorry azz performance/actions. Good Lord. The fact that Walker and Perry and the Bush brothers actually became Governors of ANY state says a lot about the people who actually voted for such characters. It also says a lot about Dem voters who far too often FAIL to see the importance of voting in statewide, county and… Read more »