In a Fox News Sunday interview that aired March 1, Walker was asked, really for the first time, about his previous support of immigration reform. “Back when you were the Milwaukee County executive, you actually supported the Kennedy-McCain comprehensive immigration plan,” said interviewer Chris Wallace.

“My view has changed,” said Walker. “I’m flat-out saying it. Candidates can say that. Sometimes they don’t.”

At the March 7 Iowa Ag Summit, Walker surprised close observers by embracing the ethanol mandate. Nine years earlier, in his first gubernatorial bid, Walker had opposed it. “It is clear to me that a big government mandate is not the way to support the farmers of this state,” he’d said, according to contemporary reporting excavated by Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney. One of Carney’s colleagues, Phil Klein, put the conservative sentiment succinctly: “If Walker can’t stand up to Iowans, how can he stand up to the Islamic State?”

A week later, as Walker stumped in New Hampshire, he insisted to Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin that “changing” his position was completely different than flip-flopping on a position. And as the Mair situation spun out of control, Walker himself was silent.