“Scott Walker likes to say that the recall election he survived three years ago, when national media descended on Madison to cover his showdown with Big Labor, prepared him for the rigors of a presidential campaign. But the Wisconsin governor is learning how wishful that may be,” Politico reports.

“Nothing, in fact, compares to the scrutiny of a presidential campaign. After a barrage of recent criticism for not answering questions about foreign policy or evolution, and not speaking up after Rudy Giuliani accused President Barack Obama of not loving America, it was more of the same for Walker on Saturday.”

Matt Lewis: “Walker has been surging in recent weeks, and there is a sense he could be the guy to bridge the gap between the Republican establishment and the grassroots conservative base. But campaigns are crucibles, and if the last couple of days are a harbinger of things to come, he’s in trouble.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) dismissed criticism that he never graduated from college on Fox News as “elitist.”

Said Walker: “That’s the kid of elitist, government-knows-best, top-down approach we’ve had for years. I’d rather have a fighter who’s proven he can take on the big government interests and win… I think people want to judge what have you done lately.”

The Washington Post says Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cut the University of Wisconsin’s funding by 13% is mostly about presidential politics.

“It is unusual for a governor pondering a presidential run to take on what could be an all-consuming political brawl at home — and a distraction from the coast-to-coast travel and fundraising required to build a national campaign.”

“But the university budget debate has a clear upside for Walker, who is shaping his political brand around the idea that he does not shy away from a fight. Whether or not he succeeds in transforming the universities, the battle itself, coming in the midst of Walker’s effort to rise above a crowded field of prospective Republican presidential candidates, is likely to play well with conservative voters who see universities as elite institutions and hotbeds of left-leaning activism.”

Wall Street Journal: “Several GOP fundraisers from the financial-services industry and other Manhattan business sectors are hosting donor events for Mr. Walker, a likely presidential candidate, when he visits New York next week. The events show that while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have strong support in New York money circles, neither has a lock on the city’s big-dollar donors.”

The Washington Post looks at whether Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) lack of a college degree is disqualifying in the presidential race.

“What is clear is that if Walker ascended to the White House — he’s holding his own in most GOP primary polls — he’d be the first president in more than 60 years without at least a bachelor’s degree. Of America’s 44 presidents, just 11 didn’t graduate from college.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), speaking in London, “was asked by a British moderator if he believes in evolution. He chose not to answer,” National Journal reports.

Said Walker: “I’m going to punt on that one as well. That’s a question a politician shouldn’t be involved in one way or the other.”

“The best way to see the threat that Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, poses to Jeb Bush in the Republican presidential race is to look at Mr. Walker’s donors,” the New York Times reports.

“They extend far beyond Wisconsin, in large part because of the 2012 recall election that made Mr. Walker a nationwide conservative hero. Many of Mr. Walker’s biggest donors are deeply conservative, giving him an opportunity to emerge as an alternative to the more moderate Mr. Bush. They also include many small-money donors, a group that many national Republicans have struggled to attract.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post has a great piece on Walker’s college years.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “is adding staff in advance of a potential presidential run, as a new poll shows the Wisconsin Republican with a lead in a potential New Hampshire primary matchup,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Walker is assembling a team of veteran Republican operatives, bringing on more than a half-dozen new advisers and consultants this week.”

The Washington Post points out that Gov. Scott Walker (R) “has a 50-state network of wealthy contributors and small donors far more expansive than expected for a Midwestern governor and former Milwaukee County executive.”

“The thick donor file is the byproduct of a contentious effort to recall Walker in 2012 after he pushed through a law curtailing collective bargaining rights for many public employees. Fighting the unions became a national cause on the right. Rich conservatives rallied to Walker’s side, including influential donors who are part of a network organized by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. Among his top supporters were the DeVos family of Michigan, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and millionaire investor Foster Friess.”

“Scott Walker is moving to seize on Mitt Romney’s withdrawal from the presidential race and show he can compete with Jeb Bush as a top-tier candidate. Sources tell Politico that the Wisconsin governor is aggressively courting Romney donors, planning a March fundraising foray into Bush’s home turf of Florida and has just hired a top Washington fundraiser.”

Michael Tomasky: “I finally sat myself down and watched that Scott Walker speech from last week that everyone is raving about. If this was the standout speech, I sure made the right decision in not subjecting myself to the rest of them. It was little more than a series of red-meat appetizers and entrees: Wisconsin defunded Planned Parenthood, said no to Obamacare, passed some kind of law against ‘frivolous’ lawsuits, and moved to crack down on voter ‘fraud’—all of that besides, of course, his big move, busting the public-employee unions. There wasn’t a single concrete idea about addressing any of the major problems the country faces.”

Peter Beinart: “Walker’s rise is a reminder that among Republican primary voters, and especially Iowa-caucus goers, the market for ideological or even stylistic innovation, may be smaller than the media assumes. Because the most striking thing about Scott Walker’s speech at the Freedom Summit, and his emerging campaign message more generally, is how retro it is. Walker concedes nothing to the conventional wisdom about what the GOP must do to compete in a more culturally tolerant, ethnically diverse and economically insecure America. And the GOP faithful love it.”

“While every Republican presidential hopeful wants to be seen as Reaganesque, other leading contenders clearly hope to improve on the Gipper’s relationship with people of color. Walker, by contrast, isn’t updating the 1980s script at all.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was interviewed on ABC News by Martha Raddatz and the discussion on foreign policy didn’t go so well.

Walker: “Aggressively, we need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorists around the world… I think we need to have an aggressive strategy anywhere around the world.”

Raddatz: “But what does that mean? I don’t know what ‘aggressive strategy’ means.”

Walker: “Ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground, if that’s what it takes.”

Raddatz: “U.S. boots on the ground in Syria?”

Walker: “Well, I don’t think that’s an immediate plan.”