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Walker to Drop Out (Updated with Official Statement)
From the New York TimesGov. 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. Mr. Walker called a news conference in Madison at 6 p.m. Eastern time.
UPDATE: Excerpts from Gov. Walker’s official statement, which was emailed this afternoon.
Published in GeneralAs a kid, I was drawn to Ronald Reagan because he was a Republican and a conservative. But most of all, I admired him because of his eternal optimism in the American people.
That thought came into my head when we were all standing at the Reagan Library last Wednesday. President Reagan was good for America because he was an optimist.
Sadly, the debate taking place in the Republican party today is not focused on that optimistic view of America. Instead, it has drifted into personal attacks.
In the end, I believe that voters want to be for something and not against someone. Instead of talking about how bad things are, we want to hear about how we can make them better for everyone…
To refocus the debate will require leadership. While I was sitting in church yesterday, the pastor’s words reminded me that the Bible is full of stories about people who were called to be leaders in unusual ways.
Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately.
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. This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and – ultimately – to the future of our country.
This is where the Internet comes in.
It just makes sense to have the candidates express their knowledge and ideas in writing. And to be asked questions that they can actually respond to.
We can do better than we did this summer.
I have nothing against Trump–I thank him for the many times he has made me laugh, particularly at John Kerry!–but I’m having trouble, in a country that produced such great statesmen as John Adams and Daniel Webster, nominating for its president a guy who has run casinos and beauty pageants.
Just want to direct everyone to my February comment over here: http://ricochet.com/archives/just-a-heads-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2754570
Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen!
For those who didn’t watch Walker’s announcement, an interesting note:
He began by decrying the lack of civility and the abundance of personal attacks in the race and concluded by calling on other candidates (generally, not by name) to drop out and narrow the field. The implicit message: time for some of us to start falling on our swords in order to consolidate the anti-Trump forces.
I suppose he’s making the choice he sees as disinterested and honorable, under the weird Trump circumstances we are in.
It does not make me like it.
Nor am I convinced that he is right. It is so, so, so early. Once the primaries start, and delegates start to pile up, sure. But Iowa isn’t until February. It’s September. And of all the candidates we had, surely he should not be among the first to drop out. Once we have gotten rid of Graham, Huckabee, Santorum, Pataki, Gilmore, Kasich, even Christie, then it would have been time to think about whether Walker was the next one to go.
Edited to add Graham to my list of candidates who should go. I can’t even remember he’s in the race.
Belt,
Have you considered throwing your support behind Jeb and Trump? If the pattern holds and they drop out next we’ll all owe you an immense debt of gratitude.
I’m ok with that as well. Actually, while I’d prefer Rubio/Walker, I would be thrilled to see Rubio/Fiorina.
As I said – coming out and backing (and actively campaigning for) Rubio would be a great start. I’d only correct you by saying that the anti-Trump forces also need inherently to be anti-Jeb! forces as well.
Yes, according to the WSJ his fundraising slowed and so in order to stay in the race he would have to make a “drastic reduction in staff.”
Keep in mind that he is a politician, I wouldn’t expect him to throw his support behind anyone until the field is narrowed considerably. Why sabotage a potential power base?
This shows me how little I really know. I’ll be more circumspect with my predictions in future (including the one about Hillary being toast).
Maybe, but I’m not so sure.
If you’re in the race to win it, you need a large organization, and that costs big money. If you start building out such an organization and your fundraising dries up you’re in trouble, and it sounds like that’s what happened to Walker.
On the other hand if you run a shoestring grassroots campaign you can stay in the race as long as you want. Your odds of actually winning are minimal, but you can get yourself a future book deal, Fox TV show, maybe even a cabinet post. If that’s your real motivation there’s no need or incentive to drop out early.
I liked Walker a lot before the campaign. I lost interest when he waffled on immigration.
Please Lord don’t allow Pataki to drop out of the race. Perhaps we should send him money to keep the Poughkeepsie Express running. No candidate can withstand the ego-cratering prospect of falling below Pataki in the polls. He’s the indispensable man now.
I basically agree with this. This decision tells me more about Walker’s temperament than the state of his campaign. Like Tim Pawlenty before him, one gets the sense that he just didn’t really have the stomach for the endeavor.
I have no reason to doubt that he was running low on money. So what? Blow up the campaign (which clearly wasn’t working anyway), decide to run as yourself instead of some composite sketch of a GOP candidate, carry your own bags, and live off the land. Heck, it’d probably be much better for a candidate like Walker to be freed of the elaborate infrastructure he built.
Would it work? I don’t know. But it’s what’d you do if you really wanted this thing as opposed to having decided, somewhere in your heart, that you really wanted a way out.
The irony!
Walker, whom we loved because he stayed strong under fire — has wilted under fire.
Totally fair point, but I was giving the shorthand of Walker’s views, not my own. One doesn’t get the sense from him that Jeb is the guy he’s concerned about getting out of the field.
I have a sinking feeling that when the dust clears after Super Tuesday, we are going to be left with a choice of Kasich, Jeb!, or Trump.
No no no no no. 1) Fate knows where my heart really lies, so it’s good-bye Jindal. 2) Do you really want to tempt Fate into perversity and have Trump resurgent, triumphant? Think man, think!
Meh. Same response from me when he got in the race.
Maybe if he grew a personality.
As I often like to point out things can always be worse. Frankly I don’t think Walker added anything to this field or debate. This is why he is gone. Now, like many I thought he would be able to add something so I was positive about him throwing his hat into the ring.
Frankly his failure in this campaign makes me wonder about his fighting bonfides. I guess he was able to win elections in the Big Cheese, but maybe his victories are not so much a result of his own merit but rather to the discredit of his opposition. I know Rubio can mount a come from nothing take down of an establishment favorite. Who else in the field has a record of punching above their weight class?
I think Charisma is also key to unifying ourselves too. If we actually can like our candidate it will give people who are on the fence a good reason to like them too. After all imagine someone asks you where they should eat. And you say, “Well, Mitt Romeny’s cafe is okay, good prices and the food won’t kill you”. Maybe you can explain to them why its a better deal than Obama’s Grill. But if you yourself aren’t too keen on Romney’s Cafe it will show.
I for one like the Pork Sandwiches at Rubios Carne Truck. They are juicy porky goodness.
Hmmm. I wonder if he’d like to retire to beautiful California after his term ends. Look around a bit and then bust up the public sector unions here.
A girl can dream.
I know some Packers fans.
Sigh.
They should spend quite a lot of time explaining to the public, why their policies are required and the best approach to the problem at hand. If they lose the support of the public, congress will ignore them, and their presidency will be a failure. The ability to communicate with the public is likely one of the most essential skills a president can have. The proverbial “Bully Pulpit” is real and its proper use essential to a successful president. Relations with congress are also important, but if a president can pressure congress from both sides, the executive, and the public, he has a greater chance of succeeding with his agenda.
To be a bit more serious for the moment, I liked the idea of candidate Walker more than I liked the campaign of candidate Walker. It seems like he never found his footing. Someone compared him to Gov. Perry of the previous campaign, and that seems rather apt.
It’s also a pity that Perry couldn’t get any further. I think these two candidates were harmed by the presence of Trump, but I think they also need to shoulder most of the responsibility themselves.
1) Oh, he wanted the job. I’ve followed him long enough to know that. But he’s alternated brutal campaign and brutal budget fight for too many years. Maybe it was too much.
2) Still, if it’s about Scott Walker winning, you’re right: he should have done all that. But if it’s about conservatives winning — and if he genuinely believes Rubio is conservative and could win, and that above all we need a serious alternative to Trump — in short, if we take him at his word with very little reading between the lines — he is right.
3) This is what he did in the gubernatorial race in 2006. When his campaign flopped he stepped out early and threw his support to Green rather than dragging it out. He is a team player.
4) This means Wisconsin has a governor again. The state was going to pay a price for an extended run that didn’t go anywhere. The Wisconsin Democrats shouldn’t be gloating as much as they are, because they suddenly have a governor who has nothing to lose.
Anyone else notice the only really viable governor left is Jeb — and shudder?
Rubio is looking all the more like the consensus candidate among those who can’t stomach Jeb! Add Fiorina to the ticket, and I think it’s dynamite. No nose-holding, I can get jazzed about pulling the lever for that combo.