Even though I knew that Scott Walker’s presidential campaign was not going at all well lately and that he had very little support in recent polls, I was still quite surprised to hear on Monday that he had decided to leave the race. It seemed to be a very sudden and early move for someone who’d been considered to have a real chance at the nomination just a couple of months ago, but if he felt it was time to leave, I respect his judgment on the matter.
Many people have been offering their reasons, some of which don’t seem particularly accurate or fair to me, for the troubles and short duration of Scott Walker’s campaign, but, at least for now, I’ll refrain from even attempting such an analysis. I will say that, as it relates to the overall course of the Republican primary race, this development concerns me quite a bit. To me, it is very unfortunate that the first two candidates to depart the contest seem to be among those most qualified to serve as the Chief Executive, based on their records as successful governors. There are still several very worthy candidates in the race, but I worry that the current campaign climate and nomination process might not allow the best candidates to survive until the end.
As for Governor Walker, I wish him well and hope that he will be able to bounce back quickly from this disappointing experience, as there is still plenty of important work that he can do in the office he did recently win. In the end, Scott Walker remaining as governor of Wisconsin isn’t such a bad “consolation prize”-- for him or for those of us who live in that state.
