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Monday, September 21, 2015

A Sigh of Relief for American Women-and America: Scott Walker is Dropping Out

I guess there really are some things money can't buy. Certainly as many Koch dollars as they are it still isn't enough to give buy Scott Walker any campaign success.

"Gov. 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 the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Walker called a news conference in Madison at 6 p.m. Eastern.

“The short answer is money,” said a supporter of Mr. Walker’s who was briefed on the decision. “He’s made a decision not to limp into Iowa.”

"The supporter said that Mr. Walker’s fund-raising had dried up after his decline in the polls and that campaign officials did not feel they could risk going into debt with the race so uncertain. The governor, who was scheduled to be in New York and Washington this week, partly to raise money, had built up an expansive staff, bringing on aides and consultants detailed to everything from Christian conservative outreach to Super Tuesday states. But his fund-raising did not keep pace with the money needed to sustain such an infrastructure."

"Mr. Walker’s intended withdrawal is a humiliating climb down for a Republican governor once seen as all but politically invincible. He started the year at the top of the polls but has seen his position gradually deteriorate, amid the rise of Donald J. Trump’s populist campaign and repeated missteps by Mr. Walker himself."

"In the most recent CNN survey, Mr. Walker drew support nationally from less than one-half of one percent of Republican primary voters. He faced growing pressure to shake up his campaign staff, a step he was loath to take, according to Republicans briefed on his deliberations."

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/09/21/scott-walker-said-to-be-quitting-presidential-race/

To me this is great news. At least a Scott Walker Presidency is off the table. As I alluded to above, the Wisconsin Governor is very much a creature of the Koches. It's hard to see how he ever becomes Governor without them. 

In this vein, Josh Marshall has some interesting speculation:

"As much as I said he was pretty obviously done, Scott Walker's departure from the race sure seems abrupt and even premature. It's hard to have much hope when you go from a first tier candidate to significantly under 1%. Still, not only is it early but the race is so unsettled and chaotic, couldn't he have held out a bit longer?"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-walker-drops-out-2016

My first reaction is to say who knows why he had to leave this quickly-I see that the tv commentary is asking Marshall's question as well-but let's just be glad taht he is.

After he is the one candidate who was to the Right of Jeb Bush and Rubio on abortion-while both oppose abortion even in rape and incest, Walker one ups them by opposing even in the life of the mother.

So who knows why but I'm glad. Still, it is true that this is a very large field and many others like Lindsay Graham Rand Paul, and Chris Christie have hung around even with very paltry numbers.

And Marshall raises the interesting specter of the Koches. Maybe they are not willing to spend any more on a clearly losing campaign.

"But David Kurtz reminds me of a key point about Walker. Going back to the early days when he was the new Governor of Wisconsin, Walker was always a creature of the Koch Brothers and like big donors. (There was actually a comical episode some of you may remember when a prankster called Walker up as "David Koch" and talking to Walker for something like an hour. He recorded the call and then made it public.)"

"There's already reporting out there that Walker's campaign was having a very hard time raising money in recent weeks. But that's no different in itself to what we've seen in countless campaigns, a standard cycle. You lose traction and poll numbers, get the look of a loser, donors stop answering calls and suddenly you're done. It is a brutal and vicious cycle, a campaign death spiral that it's extremely difficult to break out of."

"One of the premises of this campaign has been that a lot of candidates who would have had to drop out in earlier cycles will be able to hang on much longer. As long as they have their billionaire willing to fund things, they can go on pretty much indefinitely. Remember, that's what kept Newt Gingrich in the race in 2012 - Sheldon Adelson's cash. A similar story with Rick Santorum with his own billionaire."

"But the converse is also true. I wonder whether Walker's own attachment to Koch like mega-donors and the change in the campaign finance landscape brought about by Citizens United has shifted the terrain and forced Walker to pull the plug more rapidly than we might have expected. When the game really is controlled by a small group of billionaires, if they say you're done, you're done."

And he's done."

So maybe the Koches gave him the word: you're done.

Again, good news for American women and most of us Americans that aren't in the 1%. To be sure while we have with his departure raised the specter of a Jeb Bush-or a little less likely a Marco Rubio presidency.

Either which will be a nightmare for women-say goodbye to Planned Parenthood-and most Americans.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/if-jeb-bush-wins-in-2017-say-goodbye-to.html

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/can-you-imagine-future-of-america-is.html

Of course, the one silver lining here, is that as Walker was polling at the end literally less more than at zero there won't be much for Jeb to pick up-arguably Walker's post debate support has gone to Rubio.

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