Scott Walker likes to say that the recall election he survived three years ago, when national media descended on Madison to cover his showdown with Big Labor, prepared him for the rigors of a presidential campaign. But the Wisconsin governor is learning how wishful that may be.

Nothing, in fact, compares to the scrutiny of a presidential campaign.


After a barrage of recent criticism for not answering questions about foreign policy or evolution, and not speaking up after Rudy Giuliani accused President Barack Obama of not loving America, it was more of the same for Walker on Saturday.

During gaggles with reporters at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, he was hounded by questions about whether he agrees with Giuliani.

“That’s something that the president and the mayor will have to talk about. They certainly can comment on it themselves,” Walker said, barely elaborating on his answer to the same question a day earlier: “I don’t really know.”

Walker was also asked by The Washington Post whether the president is a Christian and answered “I don’t know” to that as well. “I’ve never asked him that,” the governor said. “You’ve asked me to make statements about people that I haven’t had a conversation with about that. How [could] I say if I know either of you are a Christian?”

The governor has shot to the top of early-state polls since a well-received speech at a forum of conservatives in Iowa last month. He is trying to position himself as a candidate who can bridge the establishment, tea party and evangelical wings of the party. Late Saturday afternoon, he went to the offices of Americans for Tax Reform for a meeting with fiscal conservative luminaries, including Grover Norquist.

Walker was by far the biggest draw at the governors’ event at the JW Marriott, and the contrast with other likely 2016 Republican candidates was conspicuous. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, coming off a banner year as chair of the Republican Governors Association, avoided the media and spent Saturday in private meetings before leaving town. That prompted a New Jersey reporter to ask Walker why Christie didn’t subject himself to questioning from reporters, too.

“Everybody’s different,” Walker responded, cracking a smile. “You’re not going to hear me … say ill-will about the other candidates.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who’s mulling a presidential bid but is less likely to jump in, milled around the halls of the hotel with a fraction of the reporters and entourage around him that Walker had.

Amid all the attention, Walker said that he’s already been through what was tantamount to a national campaign.

“It’s similar,” he said Saturday of his 2012 recall election. “I obviously had, other than the presidential race, probably the most highly-scrutinized race in 2012. I was the No. 1 target of all the major national unions this last cycle – not just amongst governors but also the House and the Senate.”

But being seen as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination is testing whether the 47-year-old Walker is really ready for the klieg lights.

Since saying “I’m going to punt” when asked about evolution in London 10 days ago, operatives from rival campaigns have begun quietly raising doubts about his preparedness. He’s also taken heat from establishment Republicans for meeting with Donald Trump, and been the subject of front-page stories in national newspapers diving into his college years; Walker withdrew before graduating.

“We know it’s like riding a roller coaster,” Walker said of all the scrutiny. “There’s going to be ups and downs. We don’t get too high when things are exciting. We don’t get too low when things are bumpy along the way. We’re going to be steady.”

Walker certainly had his share of firestorms during the recall. For a time, MSNBC hosts regularly broadcasted from Madison. One of his low points came in 2011 when he carried on a phone conversation with a liberal blogger impersonating one of the billionaire Koch brothers. When the blogger suggested infiltrating the anti-Walker crowd with “troublemakers,” the governor nonchalantly responded: “We thought about that.”

Several fellow governors praised Walker but noted that he might not fully appreciate the wringer he’ll continue to be put through.

“You’ve got to give Scott Walker credit…I think he’s the only one that’s ever won a recall like that. He’s taken a lot of abuse,” Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said in an interview. “All of that is helpful, but obviously running for president is a whole different animal.”

Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who had a long career in national politics before his 2013 election, agreed.

“There’s no comparison to running for president,” he said at the governors event. “I can’t think of the X-factor involved, but what you do at a state level, you obviously have to multiply it by 50. It’s a grueling process. At the end of the day, that’s what weeds out most folks. You’ve also got to raise $1 billion or whatever it costs now to run.”

No governor discounted Walker’s 2012 feat in the recall: Several called it a grueling test that showed Walker’s mettle. “It’s a notch of experience on his belt,” said Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead. “It was a very difficult thing for him to get through, and he got through it very well.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted that the recall was what got Walker on the national radar in the first place.

“It was a special test: the level of intensity and national focus,” said Hutchinson, who heaped praise on every current and former Republican governor looking at the race, including Mike Huckabee. “That was a serious test of his strength and his resiliency. It also gave him a national profile.”

Walker is undeniably a proven entity within the Badger State, which no Republican has carried in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan. He has won many tough elections in a blue state and in even bluer Milwaukee, where he was elected twice as county executive. He himself noted Saturday that he’s won three times in four years and that he’s been through 14 races in 25 years.

“It’s a good thing I ran track in high school,” he said, “because I’m used to running.”

Ben Schreckinger contributed to this report.