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Walker Supports Letting Delegates Vote for Others

June 21, 2016 at 5:49 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 114 Comments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said that delegates to next month’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland should “vote the way they see fit,” which could mean not necessarily supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Politico reports.

Said Walker: “I think historically, not just this year, delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit. We’ll see how things go between now and the convention as to what the next steps are. I’m not going to speculate now only because you all know the situation may change by this afternoon, let alone between now and the convention.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker Backs Away from Endorsing Trump

June 8, 2016 at 3:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 26 Comments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) seemed to question in an  interview on WKOW whether he can still support Donald Trump for president.

Said Walker: “It’s just sad in America that we have such poor choices right now.”

He added: “He’s not yet the nominee. Officially that won’t happen until the middle of July and so for me that’s kind of the time frame that, in particular, I want to make sure he renounces what he says – at least in regards to this judge.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker Still Owes Nearly $1 Million

May 24, 2016 at 9:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 13 Comments

“Like a tiresome house guest, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign debt is lingering,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“The latest federal filing shows that the GOP governor still has nearly $900,000 in debt from his unsuccessful presidential run, and that donations to retire it dipped last month.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker


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Walker Would Support Trump as Nominee

April 20, 2016 at 1:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 24 Comments

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) will support whoever wins the Republican presidential nomination, even if that person is Donald Trump, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Said Walker: “I will support the Republican running against Hillary Clinton in the fall — whoever that is.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump, Scott Walker

Bonus Quote of the Day

March 23, 2016 at 4:57 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 98 Comments

“Remember, Abraham Lincoln won in Chicago in 1860 because of an open convention. He was not the front-runner when he came in. In fact, he wasn’t even near the front until several ballots in. That gives us hope. Our first Republican president, and arguably one of our best, was someone who came in through an open process.”

— Gov. Scott Walker (R), quoted by the Washington Post.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign, Republicans Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker Hints at Cruz Endorsement Next Week

March 23, 2016 at 2:57 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), “who has largely disappeared from national politics since the end of his presidential bid, said in a new radio interview that he will likely endorse either Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) before Wisconsin’s April 5 primary,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Walker: “We’re probably going to make a decision this week. I think it’s probably best, in the next couple days, to do something after Easter, when it would have the maximum impact. Unlike my friend [Gov.] Gary Herbert in Utah the other day, I’m not going to wait until the day before. Probably in the next week or so we’ll, one, make a decision whether we’re going to endorse or not, then secondly, specifically, who we’re going to get behind.”

He added: “Senator Cruz is the only one who’s got a chance, other than Donald Trump, to win the nomination. My friend Governor Kasich cannot.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker, Ted Cruz

Quote of the Day

February 2, 2016 at 12:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 25 Comments

“My wife says if I thought about a fourth term, she’d slit my throat.”

— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), USA Today, while hinting he may run for a third term.

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker, WI-Gov

Walker Rents Email List to Rivals

December 15, 2015 at 8:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard 12 Comments

“Scott Walker has begun selling access to his email list to pay off his leftover presidential debt… But there’s a catch,” Politico reports.

“While it never says so in the emails from his old foes, or anywhere, the money that donors give isn’t necessarily all going to whichever smiling candidate is pictured on the site and writing the email. That is because Walker’s committee has struck secret deals with at least some of his old competitors to split the proceeds — unbeknownst to those doing the giving.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign, Business of Politics Tagged With: Scott Walker

Cruz Helps to Pay Off Walker’s Debt

December 14, 2015 at 5:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 62 Comments

Sen. Ted Cruz urged his supporters to help Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s short-lived presidential campaign pay off its remaining debt, The Week reports.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker, Ted Cruz

Walker Won’t Run Again While Governor

October 15, 2015 at 7:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

Gov. Scott Walker said that he wouldn’t run for president again while serving as governor, the AP reports.

Said Walker: “One thing I’ve learned from this go-around is if I were to run for re-election I would clearly in my own mind, not just publicly, have to make a decision, I think I would rule out running for president at least in that term and stay committed to the end of that. I think it is difficult to run your state and to run for president at the same time.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Insiders See Rubio as Beneficiary of Walker Exit

September 25, 2015 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

“Scott Walker’s exit is a big win for Marco Rubio. That’s the consensus of Republican insiders in Iowa and New Hampshire, with about 40 percent of our Politico Caucus members picking the junior senator from Florida over all other GOP contenders as the one most likely to benefit from Walker’s decision to quit.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Marco Rubio, Scott Walker

Walker’s Campaign Was Already Deeply in Debt

September 24, 2015 at 12:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 18 Comments

In a little more than two months, Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential bid had amassed a debt of roughly $700,000, the Washington Post reports.

“A pared-down effort focused on staying afloat in Iowa would still cost around $1 million a month because of ongoing costs associated with ballot access, accounting and vendor contracts.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker Apologizes to Donors

September 24, 2015 at 7:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

Gov. Scott Walker “apologized to donors and supporters for the collapse of his presidential campaign, saying in a call that he saw no hope to turnaround sagging fundraising fortunes,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Walker told donors he considered keeping the campaign alive and making a big staff shakeup, but decided that didn’t seem likely to make the effort financially viable.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker’s Bid was Shortest in Two Decades

September 23, 2015 at 8:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 30 Comments

“The complete and utter collapse of Scott Walker’s presidential bid appears to bring to an end the shortest presidential campaign since at least 2000,” the Washington Post reports.

“Walker’s bid began with his announcement July 13 before a fancy backdrop and in front of an energetic crowd in Waukesha, Wis. It ended in Wisconsin on Monday, in front of a drab background and with only a few reporters listening in. From start to end, the campaign lasted 70 days — a shorter campaign than even Rick Perry’s, since Perry started earlier.”

“Looking back at major candidate campaigns since 2000, 70 days appears to be the shortest, by at least a week. Jim Gilmore’s 2008 bid lasted 79 days. Tim Pawlenty hung on for 83 days in 2012.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Too Late for Scott Walker’s Iowa Plan

September 23, 2015 at 7:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

Ex-Scott Walker campaign manager Rick Wiley told Politico “he had an ‘all-in Iowa’ plan that would have moved the headquarters from Madison, Wis., to Des Moines and cut the staff from about 85 to 20 as of Thursday. But Walker, floundering in debates and on the stump, was facing such a sudden drought in donations that even those drastic moves wouldn’t have guaranteed solvency.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

Walker’s Exit Challenges Assumptions About 2016

September 22, 2015 at 11:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 72 Comments

Rick Klein: “Scott Walker’s exit is a jolt to a chaotic and still churning presidential race. It also challenges some of the biggest assumptions that have governed understanding and analysis of the 2016 cycle. First, early polls really, really don’t matter. The candidate with the best six months of 2015 is gone one quarter later, without a scandal or an ‘oops’ to blame for it. Second, super PACs are overrated. Yes, they can provide critical air cover, but only if you have a real operation on the ground. Giant outside entities could save neither Walker nor Rick Perry, who struggled with hard dollars despite being established, big-state governors with national fundraising bases.”

“Finally – and most significantly – this most crowded primary in recent history could get quite a bit roomier. If the dollars don’t exist to support 17 candidates, they most likely can’t sustain 15 serious candidacies either. Walker wasn’t a candidate long enough to even file an FEC report; those reports will be scrutinized for burn rates in a few weeks, with the possibility of some flameouts even before then.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

How Trump Undermined Walker’s Candidacy

September 22, 2015 at 9:37 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 26 Comments

The Fix: “From the day Trump entered the race in mid-June, Walker struggled to find his footing in a race in which the “star” was no longer Jeb Bush — a relatively conventional opponent — but rather an entertainer who would say and do anything to draw attention. As Trump went from a novelty act to the star of the presidential campaign, Walker’s ‘Joe Average’-schtick began to feel like an echo of a race that was no longer being run.”

First Read: “How? Look no further than the issue of immigration, which Trump ripped away from Walker — who had been basing much of his Iowa campaign on his opposition to illegal immigration (especially given Bush’s and Rubio’s views on the subject).”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump, Scott Walker

What We Learned from Walker’s Exit

September 22, 2015 at 9:34 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 47 Comments

First Read: “Scott Walker and Rick Perry both learned a hard lesson this cycle: If at first you don’t succeed – you don’t get a second look anymore. There are too many other alternatives in this GOP field, and the news cycle moves too fast for all but the most skilled candidates to claw their way out of a deficit. Individual stumbles and flip-flops aside, Walker’s fatal mistake was that he tried to be all things to all conservatives. In a year when the party wants anything but a traditional politician, Walker got caught being, well, a traditional politician: Trying too hard to give answers to appease supporters; trying to be politically perfect at the expense of being fresh or defiant; trying too hard to use a state budget to make a presidential statement.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Scott Walker

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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