Scott Walker: I was 'called' to exit the race

If only I had kept my mouth shut — like this. Scott Walker became the second 2016 hopeful Monday to drop out of the Republican primary, following fellow GOP governor Rick Perry of Texas through the exit door. Walker, speaking from Madison, said he was inspired as a child by Ronald Reagan's "eternal optimism" and that the GOP race had devolved into a scrum of "personal attacks." For that reason, he said he felt he was being "called" to lead in an "unusual" way: "The Bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in unusual ways. Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately." When Walker officially entered the race just two months ago, he was still running first in Iowa. But the entrance of Donald Trump significantly ate into his support and the latest CNN/ORC International poll showed Walker polling pathetically low: less than one-half of one percent.

Walker's announcement came on the heels of reports that he had whittled down his strategy to winning Iowa. The Wisconsin governor was widely known to be running a rather expensive campaign and his early exit came down to dwindling funds.

“The short answer is money,” said a supporter of Mr. Walker’s who was briefed on the decision. “He’s made a decision not to limp into Iowa.”

The supporter said that Mr. Walker’s fund-raising had dried up after his decline in the polls and that campaign officials did not feel they could risk going into debt with the race so uncertain. The governor, who was scheduled to be in New York and Washington this week, partly to raise money, had built up an expansive staff, bringing on aides and consultants detailed to everything from Christian conservative outreach to Super Tuesday states. But his fund-raising did not keep pace with the money needed to sustain such an infrastructure.

Walker's political foes, like AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, reveled in Walker's demise. Trumka, who called Walker "a national disgrace" after he entered the race in July, sent out a tweet noting the governor's change in fortunes.

#ScottWalker is still a disgrace, just no longer national.

— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) September 21, 2015