Ken Berwitz
Today\’s paragraph comes from the blogger who calls him/herself “sundance”, at conservativetreehouse.com. He/she wins for putting together a concise little synopsis of how Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, once considered a major candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has pretty much fallen off the edge of the earth.
In his latest blog, after pointing out that Iowa is of special importance to Walker, because it “is a regional necessity if he is to remain a viable candidate”, sundance writes this:
In July Walker was pulling 12% in Iowa, thatdropped to 8% weeks later in the Des Moines Register poll; a few days laterWalker registered 7% in the Monmouth Univ. Poll; now he\’s down to 3% in thelatest Quinnipiac result. 12,.. 8,.. 7,.. 3,… well, you can see theproblem.
Yes, we can see the problem. Clearly.
Does this mean that Walker is on the verge of dropping out of the race, as Rick Perry did this week? Probably not – not yet, anyway. But maybe. And maybe he should.
Other than Walker, the Republican lineup as of now consists of:
-Several candidates who are getting just about all the coverage – Donald Trump (the lion\’s share, because he is so bizarre and loud and blunt and insulting), Ben Carson and Jeb Bush.-Candidates-in-name-only, like George Pataki and James Gilmore, who, whatever their past political successes, are little more than flotsam and jetsam in this process.-Fallen stars who, like Walker, either started out strong and have dropped (Rand Paul immediately comes to mind but Marco Rubio may have devolved into this category as well) or once had more national cachet than they apparently do now (Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, maybe Lindsey Graham).
Soon, I hope, most will leave the scene, so that the real candidates – the ones who, to varying degrees, have a realistic chance – are able to present themselves more visibly rather than getting lost in the crowd.
By that time we may also have a better idea of whether Hillary Clinton, against all odds (in my opinion), can retrieve her candidacy, or whether Joe Biden will jump in and leapfrog both Clinton and this generation\’s answer to George McGovern, Bernie Sanders.
Then the 2016 race will really start.
It won\’t be boring.
