In an interview, Walker said he’s planning to spend 10 days a month in Iowa, “maybe more“. Walker’s “verbal missteps”, the article said, have also been “a topic of concern among his own loyalists”.
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Walker had repeatedly said he was hoping for a strong debate performance to help increase momentum for his campaign that has tumbled in recent weeks amid the rise of Trump, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson.
While it’s no surprise that Walker is focused on Iowa – he has promised to visit all 99 counties – it’s unusual to hear a candidate telegraph his strategy so plainly, especially this early in the campaign cycle.
“The way the system is now set up, to stay alive, you have to really convince your relatively few big donors to stay in the game”, says Larry Noble of the Campaign Legal Center.
“We don’t need an Apprentice in the White House; we have one right now. We’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it the old fashioned way through a lot of hard work and grass root organization”.
Trump also mentioned Walker’s decline in the polls in Iowa, stating that Iowan caucus-goers found out about his record, and that’s the reason why he “went to number one“, and Walker “went down the tubes”. I wouldn’t be the person you’d hire to run HP, because I don’t have experience in those areas.
“He’s praised them, but he’s not speaking out about the fact that this rhetoric out there”.
Walker’s big moment of the night came early, when other candidates were being asked whether they trusted Trump to be in charge of the country’s nuclear weapons.
Walker said being behind in the polls is something he’s dealt with before.
Walker returns to the state this weekend for a speech at an Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner in Des Moines on Saturday night, followed by a full day of campaigning Sunday. And Walker said he’d require federal worker unions to publicly report what portion of membership dues they use for political activity. “This will take the breath away from anyone who’s worked in labor relations for any length of time….” “The field will eventually narrow down”.
“Walker’s fundamental problem in Iowa is the more Iowans learn about his failed economic policies, divisive leadership, and special interest favoritism, the less Iowans like him“, Lau said.
Walker’s aides argue their candidate still isn’t well known in Iowa or nationally, so there’s room for growth.
Nervous vendors to his campaign are waiting to be paid more than $100,000 for outstanding debts, according to a person at one of the firms who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Unless Walker can turn around his downward trajectory, he likely won’t appear on the main stage in the third debate. The spring and the summer – they’re sampling different ones. If he doesn’t raise enough money to look and play like a national candidate, he might not have the resources to compete past Iowa.
