Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is expected to
officially announce his presidential run on July 13. But his months of active, if unofficial, campaigning have revealed significant weaknesses even as he leads in Iowa caucus polling.
Walker has drawn criticism for changing positions on issues including immigration reform and ethanol subsidies. Now add to that a shift in his response to court decisions on marriage equality. When marriage equality came to Wisconsin, courtesy of the courts, Walker said "For us, it's over in Wisconsin." But that was back when he was facing a Democrat in Wisconsin. These days, he's facing other Republicans and he's focusing on Iowa, and:
His response to the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage most emphatically demonstrated his sharp shift to the right: Mr. Walker called the court’s ruling “a grave mistake” and reiterated his call for a constitutional amendment that would allow states to ban same-sex marriage. It sent a clear message to social conservatives, and one that was noticeably not echoed by two of his leading rivals, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush — who warned last year that Republicans would need to campaign as if they were willing to lose the nomination if they hoped to win the general election.
Walker's strength was that he was supposed to be the candidate who could appeal to both the far right and establishment Republicans. Instead, he runs the risk of being trusted by no one as he tries to beat out people like Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee on the right while appealing to Iowa interests like ethanol. So far it's working in
Iowa, but his
national numbers have been dropping since April, and he's lost a little ground in
New Hampshire, as well. And as Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum can attest, winning the Iowa caucus is not exactly a sure path to being the Republican nominee.