Christie's scandal and Walker’s conservative reputation could change the front-runner. | AP Photos Christie's pain is Walker's gain

As Chris Christie’s star falls, the party is giving a second look to another brash blue-state governor who stared down unions at home: Scott Walker.

Republican strategists say no one is in a better position to get a boost from the Christie Bridgegate scandal than Walker, who stepped into the national spotlight in 2011 when he won a union-fueled recall election in Wisconsin.


In conversations about the 2016 field with Republican strategists, operatives and donors in the weeks since the scandal first gripped the Christie administration, many volunteered Walker as the potential candidate they plan to watch and, unprompted, said he is getting renewed attention in conservative circles.

( QUIZ: How well do you know Scott Walker?)

Now that the chattering class is back talking Walker up, it could create the kind of buzz that catapults the Midwesterner to the top of a field that is only widening as Christie stumbles.

“I’ve heard of a lot of interest in Walker,” said veteran Republican strategist Charlie Black, who served as chief adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his 2008 presidential bid. Black also predicted that if Walker wins reelection this year he’ll “have a great record not only in Wisconsin but a great electoral record having won three times in fives years in a blue state.”

While Beltway interest alone won’t crown Walker the Republican front-runner, it could still be helpful if he decides to run.

“Chris Christie took a big fall after Bridgegate. It makes sense that Scott Walker’s stock would rise,” Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist and Wisconsin native, said of the growing Walker talk. “I think he has as excellent a chance as anyone else in the GOP primary at this point.”

( QUIZ: How well do you know Chris Christie?)

Walker’s reputation is as a conservative’s conservative who can still win over moderates. That’s an attractive combination for party insiders who need a candidate who can survive a GOP primary and still pivot to the national stage with broad appeal.

“Many are looking at Walker because he has won in a blue state not through accommodation but by promoting and enacting policies consistent with conservative principles,” said Kevin Madden, a former aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential bid.

Many Republicans insiders expect Washington dysfunction to become at least one theme in the next presidential election, making outsiders a good bet, they say. Govs. Rick Perry, John Kasich and Susana Martinez and former Gov. Jeb Bush have all been floated as possible contenders.

And many in the Republican Party have always believed governors make strong candidates.

“Four of the last five men to win the White House — [Barack] Obama, George W. Bush, [Bill] Clinton and [Ronald] Reagan – all ran as outsiders, railing against Washington’s incestuous inefficiency, and given public perceptions about Washington, only a political masochist would seek the inside track,” said Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Vogel & Castagnetti and a former George W. Bush administration official.

( PHOTOS: Republican 2016 contenders)

Lisa Camooso Miller, a former Republican National Committee spokeswoman, agreed.

“The Republican power base is in the states, and if history is any judge, that’s where our next president will originate,” said Miller, explaining the dominant wisdom in the party.

Black said governors have an extra leg up on other kinds of outsiders, since they’ve run something.

“People look at governors as executives and people who have managed things. The credentials are similar for what people have in mind for a president more so than a senator,” Black said.

The talk about Walker is also a reminder of how wide open the 2016 field remains, an unusual situation for a party that has turned to an heir apparent in the past two cycles. McCain won the primary in 2008, after losing to Bush ahead of the 2000 election. Romney was the runner-up to McCain in 2008, which made him the go-to candidate in 2012.

The RNC recently sent out a 2016 presidential straw poll to supporters with more than 30 possible candidates. And several lawmakers, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, and even fellow Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin are flirting with running for the White House.

“There are no front-runners. There are six to 10 really good candidates,” said former Speaker Newt Gingrich, a former presidential candidate who now co-hosts CNN’s “Crossfire,” name-checking several governors such as Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and John Kasich of Ohio as possible candidates. “I think we’ll have a very broad campaign group.”

This isn’t the first time the GOP establishment has fawned over Walker. First elected in 2010, Walker catapulted to national prominence in conservative circles after he beat back a recall effort over a balanced budget policy that stripped collective-bargaining rights from most public unions.

Walker later graced the cover of the National Review as a warrior complete with breastplate and sword, holding aloft serpents with the headline “Can Scott Walker Slay the Beast?” for an article about the recall.

A spokesman for Walker did not respond to a request for comment. But the Wisconsin Republican for his part has said publicly he believes the 2016 candidate needs to have “firm roots from outside of Washington.”

“People across the board — Republican, Democrat alike — are frustrated with the problems they see in the nation’s capital,” Walker said in a Bloomberg interview in November. “People in this country, again, across the political spectrum, are tired of the nonsense in Washington.”

And while Christie is still facing the fallout of the bridge scandal — nobody thinks the New Jersey governor has abandoned his national ambitions.

“Assuming that he survives the bridge problem, and I think he will, Christie is going to end up a very formidable candidate,” Gingrich said.

One GOP bundler with ties to Christie said the scandal could actually make him stronger down the road.

“It will make him a better candidate, a more complete candidate,” the bundler said. “I think a little humility isn’t the worst thing in the world for him to have to incorporate into his overall public persona.”

Christie and Walker are on friendly terms and have worked together through the Republican Governors Association. Walker came to Christie’s defense following the bridge scandal — telling news outlets that Christie had been “completely transparent” and praised him for moving swiftly in “removing the people who were not forthright with him.”

But Republicans who are worried that Christie is too moderate to win the GOP primary and that his history of working with Democrats could turn off base voters argue that Walker’s conservative bona fides are a big selling point.

Longtime Walker ally Kevin Keane said the governor’s ability to take on tough issues like balancing budgets makes him uniquely suited for higher office.

“He took on a really tough challenge in Wisconsin and it’s working,” Keane said of Walker’s controversial “Act 10” legislation. “He’s a guy who takes on the tough problems, comes up with tough solutions and makes them work. I think that’s what the country is going to need and what the country is going to be looking for in 2016.”

Walker recently announced a nearly $1 billion state surplus in his State of the State speech.

Another key selling point for Walker is that he is battle-tested, twice facing off against the national Democratic operation and beaten it.

“You can’t put enough of a premium on having that kind of experience. Presidential campaigns are block-by-block street fights. It really helps to have been tested in that kind of environment,” Madden said. “To use a boxing analogy, candidates who haven’t been through a prizefight will panic at the first sight of blood. An experienced fighter will just shrug, let the cut man do his job, then focus on the fight.”

For his part, Walker is doing all the things necessary to raise his profile. He recently wrote a political-themed book and did a national book tour and has visited early important presidential primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Walker has also campaigned across the country and has even scored points with the GOP establishment by calling out conservatives mounting primaries against more moderate lawmakers.

While other possible 2016 GOP candidates will certainly spend much of this year campaigning across the country helping out candidates and earning political chits, Walker won’t have that luxury.

“Walker is nibbling around the edges, but he has to take care of his situation in Wisconsin,” said the GOP bundler with ties to Christie.

Walker is in a tight race against Democratic businesswoman Mary Burke. A recent Badger State poll found that 47 percent of Wisconsin voters would reelect Walker compared with 41 percent who said they would support Burke. Walker has not committed to serve out a full, four-year term if he is reelected.

He also will need to demonstrate to party leaders that he has the fundraising chops to raise the tens of millions of dollars necessary to fund a primary and general presidential election.

Walker is already turning the heads of some Republican megadonors.

“I am a big supporter of Gov. Walker,” said Stan Hubbard, a billionaire Minnesota media mogul in mid-January. “I think he is terrific. I think he says the right thing, does the right thing. So I have not decided to back anybody, but right now I’d lean towards Walker.”