Scott Walker Emerging as GOP Presidential Front Runner, Jeb’s Star Falling

25 May, 2015 by Warner Todd Huston

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News out of Oklahoma City, today, is that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has emerged as the front runner in the hunt for the 2016 GOP nomination for president.

A gaggle of the candidates met at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference over the weekend and it looks like Walker was far and away the one candidate who most impressed the conference goers. And who did these folks have the least interest in? Jeb Bush.

The conference revealed a Republican base that is (1) broadly happy with the crowded and conservative field, (2) still smitten with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and (3) unimpressed and uninterested in Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Senate chaos over the Patriot Act kept the four senators who are running from making it, dampening the mood a bit.

The candidates running a second time — Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Mike Huckabee — do not excite the conservative base.

Also, it was evident from the speakers and the attendees that defense and national security have returned to the forefront of the Republican mind.

Straw Poll: The straw poll results mostly reflected Scott Walker’s popularity, and the apprehension the Republican base has for Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, the perceived establishment moderates in the field.

Well, whatever you think of Gov. Walker, it is excellent news that Jeb’s star is falling.