Walker : Undecided on Iowa Straw Poll, May Skip FL Primary

[Mr. Morden]

I was actually thinking about this a few days ago, where there's so many candidates that all of them decide to avoid states where they know it's almost impossible to win.

I know candidates have skipped Iowa or New Hampshire relatively successfully in the past, but I think doing any more than that (and possibly doing even that, this time around) is basically admitting defeat. There are enough candidates in that some of them are going to run in all the primaries and have a degree of representation in all the caucuses. Skipping contests is going to look like defeat after other candidates with similar profiles make any showing at all.

Candidates have skipped other candidates' home states plenty of times.

In any case, Florida is two weeks after Super Tuesday…the race may very well be decided by then, so what difference does it make.  Since it's Bush's and Rubio's home state, and it's WTA, Walker may only be competitive there if he's basically already won the nomination.

[Mr. Morden]

Wait, he announced?

No, he hasn't announced.

[Mr. Morden]

But to say, now, when he hasn't even announced that he's running, "Oh, I'll be skipping Florida and probably Iowa" is foolish and tone-deaf. Yet another mistake from Team Walker in the Invisible Primary, in my opinion.

He definitely won't be skipping Iowa.  He's said that he'll focus heavily on Iowa.  But the actual caucuses, not the August straw poll.  And he actually hasn't said that he'll "probably" even skip the straw poll, as you seem to suggest above.  He's just said that he's undecided on it, same as pretty much the entire rest of the field.  Only Carson and Trump have committed to competing in the straw poll so far.