Still, all that has led to some feelings of unease among policy experts and Republican insiders that Walker, for all his outward popularity, might be headed for difficulties over the substance of policy. Yes, he has a huge record of achievement as a governor. But will that be enough to get him through a long campaign?
In contrast, other Republican candidates — some with less impressive records of accomplishment than Walker — have shown a lot of fluency with national and international issues. From Jeb Bush, with his long exposure to both state and national governance, to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, senators who speak with some authority on big issues, to others like Bobby Jindal, and potentially John Kasich and Mike Pence, who have experience on both the state and federal stage — other candidates are ahead of Walker in their ability to come up with sharp and well-argued statements on domestic and foreign policy. Walker will have to reach beyond his record to compete with them on the issues and present himself to voters as a potential president.
It’s not clear whether Walker’s problem is temporary or longer lasting. Part of the difficulty is that he has found himself far ahead of where he thought he would be at this stage in the race, and is thus under a much hotter spotlight than he might have imagined. In our conversation, I asked whether the campaign had shifted under his feet. “Totally,” Walker said, without a moment’s hesitation.
“We thought all along if we got in, it would be kind of this slow and steady, don’t worry about the other guys, just keep focused on moving forward, and as candidates chose not to get in or fell off, we’d be in a position to make a compelling case to them,” Walker explained. “We had no idea that after that Iowa summit there would be that kind of acceleration to the race. But we’re here, and we’re not going to complain about it.”
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