Scott Walker Campaign $700,000 in Debt

Fiscal conservatism at its worst!   I am assuming all my good conservative friends and readers will be making a healthy donation to help the Walker team out of this mess…right?

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was getting an in-depth debriefing about his campaign’s finances, and the situation was grim.

In a little more than two months, his presidential bid had amassed a debt of roughly $700,000, campaign manager Rick Wiley told the governor in a call Sunday night. A pared-down effort focused on staying afloat in Iowa would still cost around $1 million a month.

“It’s going to be tough to raise that million a month, I’ll be honest with you,” Wiley said he told Walker, according to an account he gave The Washington Post on Tuesday evening.

He said the governor’s response was calm: “OK, thank you for the information.”

Scott Walker Could Not Master Television, Was Not Like Hero Ronald Reagan

One of the reasons that Scott Walker had to swallow his pride and come back to Wisconsin and announce the end of his presidential campaign was due to the fact he was not able to master how to communicate on television.

I guess Walker now knows he never was like Ronald Reagan.

Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota media mogul who had previously been one of Walker’s top donors, told ABC News in an interview prior to the news that he was dropping out of the race, that he was planning to withdraw his exclusive support from Walker and give money to a number of other Republican candidates, including Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson. Hubbard also recommended media coaching to the governor as a means to improve the power of his messaging.

“Why does one person come across and someone else doesn’t?” Hubbard said. “I’ve been in TV business a long time and there are ways you can get training to get your message across.”

“And if Scott can’t figure that out, he might as well drop out,” Hubbard added.

And drop out he did.

Scott Walker Cancels Speech To California Republican Party Convention

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that presidential candidate Scott Walker on Friday abruptly canceled his planned speech at the California Republican Party convention next weekend.  This news was made know by someone involved with the event’s planning but who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The Walker campaign is being coy and quiet.

 

Scott Walker Campaign Slipping And Sliding Away

There is no good news in the press today for Scott Walker who is trying to make it seem he is capable and credible enough to be president.  After not out-right dismissing the idea of a fence between the United States and Canada as a crazy notion on Meet The Press Walker is left to only hear the laughter and see the shaking heads from those who once thought he had what it took to be in the top tier of contenders for 2016.  The problem is, of course, that this comment was not the first–nor will it be the last–from someone who is not smart enough to be a cabinet secretary let alone sit in the Oval Office. What we are witnessing is simply embarrassing and it reflects poorly on Wisconsin.

The Washington Post started their news article today with laying the Walker campaign problem front and center for all to see.

But his candidacy has wilted in the heat of a summer dominated by Donald Trump, with loyalists and supporters now calling for an immediate mid-course correction.

Walker’s backers see a campaign discombobulated by Trump’s booming popularity and by his provocative language on immigration, China and other issues. They see in Walker a candidate who — in contrast to the discipline he showed in state races — continues to commit unforced errors, either out of lack of preparation or in an attempt to grab for part of the flamboyant businessman’s following.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who often has allowed Walker more breathing space politically weighed in, too.

Polling data shows that the governor’s greatest loss of home-state support this year has occurred among independents, moderates and voters in northern and western Wisconsin, swing regions that were key to Walker’s statewide victories.

“It’s really in the middle of the (political) spectrum … where we’ve seen a substantial falloff in his support,” says Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll, who provided the numbers for this analysis.

Statewide, Walker’s approval rating is down a little more than 8 points among registered voters this year, from an average of 48.6% in the four pre-election polls Marquette did in the fall of 2014 to an average of 40.3% in Marquette’s two 2015 polls.

That drop in approval coincides with a controversial budget and the governor’s presidential bid, which is also struggling at the moment.

The trend is all the more striking because in the three previous years, Walker’s approval rating rarely budged, never rising above 51% or dropping below 46% in 27 polls during 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The Associated Press summed up the chaos concerning the issues that Walker has bungled along the way, proving he is not ready for prime time.

He also outlined his foreign policy goals, criticized President Barack Obama and Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton as “leading from behind” and called for a state visit with the Chinese president to be canceled.

Yet in the past 10 days, Walker also changed his stance three times on whether he, like Trump, favored doing away with the constitutional right to citizenship granted to people born in the United States. Walker finally said he had no position on the issue and he would not seek repeal of the 14th Amendment that provides that right.

During his campaigning, he has drawn the ire of Wisconsin state lawmakers who chafed at Walker, saying they weren’t on board with his 2011 push to weaken the state’s public employee unions.

In New Hampshire, Walker also said recently there were only a “handful” of moderate followers of Islam — a religion followed by more than a billion people worldwide. His campaign spokeswoman later attempted to dampen criticism of his comment, issuing a statement that Walker knows that the majority of Muslims “want to live in peace.”

In addition there is a powerful graph from the MJS that shows the problems that Walker has created and is unable to manage.

Scott Walker’s New Campaign Song

There is just no way to make up the news that now flows from Scott Walker’s bout with Potomac Fever.

Gov. Scott Walker said over the weekend that it’s a “legitimate” idea to consider building a wall between the United States and Canada to deter terrorists.

In a 30-minute taped interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, Walker emphasized his desire to “secure” the country’s borders, focusing on the southern border with Mexico. But when pressed by Todd, Walker said extending that effort to the country’s 5,525-mile border with Canada is worth looking into.

“Why are we always talking about the southern border and a fence there? We don’t talk about a northern border — where, if this is about securing the border from potentially terrorists coming over,” Todd said, asking Walker if he would build a wall on the northern border, too.

After reading this news and then after I stopped laughing my thoughts turned to the idea that the Walker campaign needed to have a theme song which could be used when the candidate makes an entrance for a speech.

Scott Walker Intimidated By Reporters

Last Friday the all-news channel I was watching broke into their programming with Donald Trump’s press conference. I am not a fan of his style of politics which to me is akin to sand paper being rubbed on the raw emotions of the body politic. But I will be the first to admit he was not afraid to tangle with the press and respond to every question thrown his way.

On Tuesday I watched in dismay as Hillary Clinton could not—or more likely would not—address forthrightly a series of reporters’ questions concerning the email debacle that has sidetracked her candidacy.  But with pluck and punch Clinton did not duck and hide but instead stood to face the questions and should at least be credited for stepping up to the podium and the cameras.

But what has troubled me most over this week concerning candidates and their dealing with the press is how Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is unable to stand on his own two feet to answer their questions.

On Tuesday, Walker’s policy team held a press call with reporters to discuss the Wisconsin governor’s health care plan, as well as his intention to repeal and replace Obamacare. But when reporters tried to submit a question, they were greeted by a press aide who demanded to know what question each reporter intended to ask. 

“Was on Gov. Walker health plan press call. First time as a reporter I’ve ever had my questions pre-screened before I could ask them,” Stephanie Armour, The Wall Street Journal’s health care policy reporter, tweeted after the call.

One of the reasons this nation has such a long campaign season for president is that we want to truly vet the candidate who will lead this country and be the most important person on the world stage. We want to know how they think and will respond to unpredictable events. That includes how they respond to reporters’ questions.

The working press should have probing questions of candidates and demand answers. After all, reporters and the press are essential components of our democracy. To undercut or bypass the press underserves the citizenry the candidates claim to have such an interest in representing.

Walker can tout all he likes about being “unintimidated”.  But we have witnessed yet again that he is not as agile on his feet with reporters as he would like to be when on the national stage.

Walker is not ready for prime time when it comes to off-the-cuff responses as his immirgation comments over the past few days prove. I can understand why his handlers want to protect him from saying things they need to later address in a press release or work to iron out on the campaign trial.  But the people of this country deserve and expect a candidate competent enough to handle questions without needing to have them pre-screened.

One has to wonder if pigs ever fly and Walker should be elected to the Oval Office if Russia’s president will present his talking points in advance so not to blindside Walker?

There is just no getting around the fact Walker is over his head in his quest for the White House and falling further behind as a result.  The way he is now trying to thwart the working press is just one more example of the limitations Walker has of thinking and talking at the same time.

I very much dislike Trump and find Clinton less than forthright but they at least step up and take reporters questions head-on.

Underscoring GOP Concerns About Election Defeat At The Hands Of Donald Trump

From ABC’s Ezra Klein.     (Yesterday I posted my views on the crazy time in the GOP campaign for the White House.)

Policy Trump is a more potent and dangerous version of the original Donald. His announcement of an immigration plan has (again) reordered the politics of the issue, with a series of hardline stances that are putting things back in the mix that had been set aside for months. His proposal to end automatic birthright citizenship — something guaranteed by the Constitution – has no realistic show at happening. Yet Scott Walker came out in favor of it in Trump’s wake. Trump’s plan for deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants may bring back GOP nightmares about Mitt Romney. But it’s now going to be a measuring stick for primary voters. (How will he find them all? “It’s going to be very easy,” Trump told ABC News outside his jury duty assignment.) Ditto Trump’s proposed wall with Mexico, which the other candidates might oppose on policy or fiscal grounds, even as Trump promises to send Mexico the bills.

After GOP Debate Less Reason To Think It Will Be Scott Walker’s Nomination

It is a long time, with many hurdles ahead, before any one of the ten candidates from the Republican debate Thursday night will stand in that same arena next summer to accept the GOP nomination.

But from what was seen last night Scott Walker has his work cut out for himself.

It comes as no surprise that I am not a Walker fan. But I can say with candor that I expected a more robust and determined Walker to make sure that he was the candidate voters would be talking about Friday morning.   Based on Walker’s lackluster debate performance there is no chance for national headlines to be written about him.

With every chance to bat a question into the outfield Walker trimmed his time and hedged with how much information he wanted to provide with answers. Instead of loading up responses with facts and figures to show that he has mastered at least the ability retain pieces of information about various topics he instead resorted to the trite language of his campaign stops.

There have been legitimate questions asked about how capable a person Walker would be if elected president. How much intellectual heft does he really have? Voters and more importantly donors needed to be assured that he was more than the male version of Sarah Palin.

What Walker needed to do during his first exposure on a national stage was to show that he had the same level of credibility as those with a much longer and more impressive resume. He failed to do that. Quite frankly I found Walker no more impressive in the evening debate than I found former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore in the afternoon debate.

I yawned several times and checked the clock to see how much more I needed to endure during that first offering from FOX News.  When it came time for the evening debate I was truly flummoxed about the lack of ability from Walker to live up to the hype of his campaign.

There was no moment that lifted Walker above the fray and elevated his presence on the stage. The many times that he was caught in a wider camera angle nodding like a bobblehead to the responses from others made him more akin to a kid who is dazzled by those around him and wondering how he will write about the big night in his diary.  Walker never looked like he could be president.  And that demeanor is important for many around the nation who are starting to turn their attention to the GOP field.

If I were to look more charitably at the debate I might conclude that Walker’s handlers felt that with limited time for candidates to make points given the large number on the stage is was a better tactic for the governor to do no harm. Short and to the point responses would not allow for Walker’s lack of deep background knowledge on the world or economic policies to show. Given Walker’s past gaffes perhaps those advising him felt that less would be preferable to longer and more detailed responses.

In the end it was not Walker’s night. It also looks like there is less reason to think it will be Walker’s nomination.