How Scott Walker's Hubris Killed His Campaign
MOLLY BALL 6:03 AM ET
Every failed presidential campaign is a how-the-mighty-have-fallen story: a politician once strong or deluded enough to think he could lead the nation, humbled by the reality of the electorate’s indifference.
But Scott Walker’s fall was especially precipitous. The Wisconsin governor’s campaign lasted just 70 days. He came in as the Iowa frontrunner and departed a few weeks later as an asterisk, with too little support even to be assigned a number in the last national poll.
How does that happen? How does a politician make such a strong impression out of the gate, then disenchant virtually every person who once told a pollster he should be the next president? Walker didn’t make one giant, disqualifying gaffe. Instead, he made a series of small mistakes—tactical, strategic, rhetorical, and ideological—that added up to an unavoidable conclusion: No matter what, he would not be the nominee.
Walker started out strong—perhaps too strong. Speaking to a conservative confab in Iowa back in January, his lively but common-sense appeal made a major impression among conservatives in the early-voting state, and he rocketed into first place in a field that was just starting to take shape. (Though there wasn’t much doubt that he was running, Walker, citing his gubernatorial duties, wouldn’t officially declare his campaign until July.)
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http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/scott-walker-presidential-campaign/406618/?utm_source=SFTwitter
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