With some polls now showing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leading in Iowa and New Hampshire, “Meet The Press” moderator Chuck Todd has elevated his standing in the 2016 GOP horse race.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Rundown” with Jose Diaz-Balart, Todd said that people “need to realize” that Walker is the co-frontrunner alongside Jeb Bush for the GOP nomination in 2016.

Todd implied that while Walker may not have the financial backing Bush does, Walker is the current leader in the polls after a knockout performance at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Jan. 24.

“I think Scott Walker, we need to stop — I think we need to realize and step back and say, you know what, if you’re going to describe Jeb Bush as a frontrunner, and financially he is but he doesn’t really lead in any polls,” continued Todd, “but if you’re going to call him a frontrunner, then you have to call Scott Walker the co-frontrunner.”

The NBC News host added that Walker’s early surge has come amid struggles from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Todd described theml as “thin-skinned” following their comments on vaccinations earlier in the week. Todd also added that Jeb Bush seems “rusty” in his return to the campaign trail.

“No individual incident, I think, is going to define things just yet but you do sort of learn an overall pattern,” Todd said. “I think we learned Rand Paul and Chris Christie are going to struggle in the media spotlight a little bit. They seem to be portraying elements of being thin-skinned. That usually doesn’t wear well for presidential candidates.

“Jeb Bush, what I took away from it is that he’s still a little rusty on the campaign front,” the “Meet The Press” moderator said. “His speech, when you look at it as far as oratory, he’s got some work to do, But he’s clearly going to stick to his guns on this idea that he’s going to have a general election strategy in the primaries.”