“With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately”, Walker says.
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Walker said that he was disappointed that the crowded field was full of personal sniping and not a positive focus – in a not-particularly veiled reference to Trump. He follows former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out on September 11.
“I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner”, Walker continued.
Madden said that Kasich, who is polling ahead of Bush in New Hampshire, may ultimately have the most to gain.
The Wisconsin governor entered the race in July as a front-runner in Iowa after winning battles against public unions in his left-leaning home state. He didn’t mention Trump by name but implied the front runner has tainted the race. He burst onto the scene in January with a fiery speech there and, soon after, soared to the top of the polls.
The end appeared to come suddenly for Walker when he suspended his campaign Monday.
Slate.com’s John Dickerson suggests that Walker peaked too early in the campaign and couldn’t maintain that strength against Trump’s rise. Walker got mixed reviews on the campaign trail and had stumbles in the press that led some to question whether he was ready for prime time.
By this month, in Iowa – once considered a must-win for Walker – he had fallen to the bottom.
The story adds, “In the most recent national poll [taken after last week’s televised debate and] released by CNN/ORC over the weekend, Walker registered just 0.5 percent”.
But Walker was hurt by lackluster performances in the first two Republican debates. Instead, it seems, Walker simply didn’t see a path forward for his once-promising political ambitions.
In other developments, a U.S.-based Islamic civil liberties group on Monday called for one of the leading Republican candidates, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, to quit his campaign after he said he would never support a Muslim presidential candidate.
Marco Rubio? It’s hard to imagine him surviving relentless attacks from Trump over immigration given the mood of the GOP primary electorate.
Once a supporter of the McCain-Kennedy 2006 immigration overhaul bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for some in the country illegally, Walker’s position evolved quite a bit once he became a national candidate.
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His efforts had impressed major GOP donors including billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, who had donated to Mr Walker in Wisconsin and indicated support for his presidential bid.
