When Mitt Romney announced on Friday that he would not make another run at the White house, he was a little vague about who he thought the Republicans ought to nominate. But it was clear that he thought it was time for the old guard, himself included, to give way to the new.
“I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee. In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.”
Related: Mitt – I Would Win, But I’m Not Running
About an hour after Romney delivered his statement, someone who fit that description took the podium at the conservative American Action Forum just a few blocks from the White House in Washington and began making his case for the presidency.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who won three elections in the space of four years after beating an unsuccessful recall vote in the middle of his first term, was fresh off an appearance at the Freedom Forum - a gathering of conservative leaders in the early presidential primary state of Iowa. A relative unknown compared to some of the big guns in attendance, Walker nonetheless made a significant impression on the crowd, stealing some of the spotlight from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and other conservative favorites.
That morning, Public Policy Polling released a new poll showing that Walker’s stock among voters appears to be on the rise.
“The biggest winner has to be Scott Walker,” PPP found. “His 11 percent standing appears to be the first time he's registered at double digits in a national poll. He's reached that level of support despite having the lowest name recognition of any candidate we tested, which is a pretty good indication that when voters get to know him they're coming to like him… Things are headed in the right direction for Walker.”
(Update: After this article was published, Walker got an additional bit of good news. In a poll of Iowa voters conducted by Bloomberg Politics and The Des Moines Register, Walker led the large pack of Republican presidential hopefuls with 15 percent of the vote. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) came in second, with 14 points, and former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romeny was third with 13 points. Romney announced his withdrawal from the race on Friday, and when pollsters reallocated votes, giving Romney's votes to the candidates chosen second by his supporters, Walker's total jumped to 16 percent, and Paul's to 15 percent.)