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 Walker's departure left his rivals seeking the Republican
nomination for the November 2016 presidential election scrambling to
appeal to his supporters in the early-voting states of Iowa and New
Hampshire as well as elsewhere.
Experts saw potential gain for conservative candidates like Ted Cruz
and Mike Huckabee as well as center-right contenders such as Marco
Rubio, John Kasich and Jeb Bush.
For Walker, a shaky performance on the campaign trail plus two
lackluster performances at Republican debates spooked financial
donors. His staff disagreed about how the 47-year-old Walker could
regain the star status he held after electrifying conservatives in
Iowa in January.
"He started with great expectations and he didn't meet 'em," said
Iowa Republican strategist Doug Gross. "You go down pretty fast when
that happens."
Walker's departure reflected the difficulty faced by the
15-candidate field in attracting enough financial support from a
limited pool of donors. Other low-polling Republicans may well pull
out in the weeks ahead.
 Walker's campaign has been in trouble for weeks, but his departure
was still a surprise, although there had been talk of a shakeup of
his team.
The campaign sought to renew its focus on Iowa given its proximity
to Wisconsin, but a CNN/ORC poll on Sunday showed the magnitude of
his problems.
Walker had less than 1 percent support, a dramatic slide from one of
the front-runners when he announced his campaign in early July.
Some Republicans said that by exiting quickly, four months before
Iowa holds the first nominating contest of the 2016 election season,
Walker showed a maturity that may help him salvage his reputation
should he decide to run again in the future.
"Today, I believe I am being called to lead by helping to clear the
race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of
the field. With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign
immediately," Walker said.
Walker appeared to direct scorn at tough-talking New York
billionaire Donald Trump, the party's front-runner who now leads in
Iowa, where Walker had staked a claim. He said the party's debate
has "drifted into personal attacks."
"In the end I believe that the voters want to be for something and
not against someone. Instead of talking about how bad things are, we
want to hear how they can make them better for everyone. We need to
get back to the basics of our party," he said.
He called on some of his rivals for the Republican nomination to
join him in exiting the race to give voters a chance to rally around
a front-runner that can win the election.
 SPLIT AMONG TEAM
There were internal disputes within Walker's team about how to best
revive his campaign as he slipped in the polls.
Sources close to the campaign described a division between those who
worked with Walker on previous campaigns and had strong Wisconsin
ties and those whom he brought in from Washington. Campaign manager
Rick Wiley was the target of animosity among Walker’s close
advisers.
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Others argued that Walker was not being aggressive enough, falling
into a stereotype of Midwestern politeness, and that he needed to
take a stronger approach to opponents like Trump.
Walker's lack of experience on the national stage was apparent. He
gave shifting answers to questions about illegal immigration and
once suggested a wall between the United States and close ally
Canada might be in order, in an apparent effort to double down on
rivals' calls for a wall on the Mexican border.
Grocery store magnate John Catsimatidis, a billionaire in New York
who donated to Walker, said Walker made many mistakes.
"I think the priority is watching out for our southern border and he
brought up the Canadian border, and that’s not a priority," he said.
Several Republican rivals sent complimentary messages to Walker,
some in the hope of gaining the support of his backers.
"I know many people are disappointed with Scott's announcement and I
respect what a difficult decision it must have been. He remains one
of the best governors in the country," said Rubio.
Who benefits from Walker's exit was a subject of debate within
Republican circles with no clear answer, since Walker had appealed
to both Christian conservatives and establishment Republicans.
Laurence Goldfarb, the owner of a Great Neck, N.Y. commodities
company, said there are two candidates who could attract his
donations now that Walker has exited the race – Rubio and Carly
Fiorina.
Goldfarb said Walker had been unable to break through such a large
field. “You’ve got one debate a month. You’ve got to stand out," he
said.
Walker was the second Republican to drop out of the race. He follows
former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who dropped out on Sept. 11.
For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales
from the Trail” (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/).
(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Madison, Emily Flitter
in New York and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
and Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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