Walker Campaign in Free Fall?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I've only dropped him from most likely to win the nomination to second most likely (behind Rubio)- I still think that he could become the 45th President.

[Brittain33]

He hasn't done anything to rule himself out and has plenty of opportunities left to break out. How often were John McCain or John Kerry written off during their primaries?

[Torie]

He hasn't done anything to rule himself out and has plenty of opportunities left to break out. How often were John McCain or John Kerry written off during their primaries?

My basically writing Walker off has more to do with his abilities as a candidate then his standing in the polls. He is just not that bright or knowledgeable, and tends to fall apart when not scripted. Those type of candidates typically fail to go the distance.

[eric82oslo]

He hasn't done anything to rule himself out and has plenty of opportunities left to break out. How often were John McCain or John Kerry written off during their primaries?

My basically writing Walker off has more to do with his abilities as a candidate then his standing in the polls. He is just not that bright or knowledgeable, and tends to fall apart when not scripted. Those type of candidates typically fail to go the distance.

Exactly. Like when he basically said during the debate that his world view had changed after meeting a group of Saudi Arabian men. I was like: What? Was that like your first trip outside of the US ever or something? It very much sounded like it the way he described it. Very bizarre. At least Trump has been all over the world, while Walker has perhaps been to one or two countries.

[136or142]

Walker tied in 4th with Marco Rubio at 8% in latest CNN polll.

[Brittain33]

He hasn't done anything to rule himself out and has plenty of opportunities left to break out. How often were John McCain or John Kerry written off during their primaries?

My basically writing Walker off has more to do with his abilities as a candidate then his standing in the polls. He is just not that bright or knowledgeable, and tends to fall apart when not scripted. Those type of candidates typically fail to go the distance.

I can see the point, and not to be snarky, but what about George W. Bush? He had advantages Scott Walker lacks, but conversely, I think Walker is knowledgable in the areas he cares about (certain aspects of policy, campaign strategy) even if he's out of his depth on foreign policy and some other areas.

Bush had a tide of goodwill based on his personality. I think Walker, while he has no charisma, may have a similar advantage to draw on because of his record in Wisconsin.

[Averroës Nix]

I agree with Torie. Anyone with more than a few hundred posts here should know better than to write off someone with the conventional credentials of a presidential nominee because of poor polling months before the first contest, particularly in a volatile multi-candidate race in which the frontrunner polls at barely one-fifth support. Nonetheless - and whether it's intelligence or personality or management style or something else that's to blame, that's not something that any of us can pretend to know - much like Bobby Jindal or Jon Huntsman, Walker hasn't dove anything to demonstrate that he's capable of winning a national election and doesn't even seem to be doing particularly well in the state that he's most focused on winning.

[Bull Moose Base]

I always rejected the Walker-Pawlenty comparisons. Walker was a hero to movement conservatives which Pawlenty never really was. But I failed to realize is that next to Donald Trump, Walker, like everyone, is more boring than Pawlenty. Walker led Iowa polling comfortably for 6 months (something no Republican pulled off in 2011) and might have done so until the caucus if not for Trump. He has a chance if Trump's campaign collapses, but it's not clear if it will.