Both are very young and had a lot of love coming into this cycle. Do you think they’re still viable?
How could Rubio be viable short of some longterm reinvention of himself? He’s giving up his Senate seat. He got creamed on home turf in the primaries. I mean it’s not impossible but he would have to completely rebuild.
Walker is still governor of Wisconsin and certainly didn’t hurt himself in the presidential race. He’s eligible to run again for governor. So, he certainly has a chance to come back.
Rubio is finished on the national stage. Part of the evidence against him is that he’s just not a hard worker. That was an epic defeat in his home state yesterday. Florida is a very transient state but it won’t change that much between now and the 2018 governor race. Plus, who knows how bad off his finances are? I see him getting a lobbying job.
Scott Walker dropped out of the race early enough that I don’t think that harmed him too much. He didn’t have a huge amount of support, and there were so many candidates, so he dropped out quickly, but he also didn’t have to deal with the debates or losing in primaries. I could definitely see him running for president again. Or as more of a longshot, I could see Trump picking him as his VP candidate.
Rubio is someone we could see again, but it seems less likely. Maybe he could be governor of Florida and get experience there and then run for president again in 2020 or 2024. But I’m not sure how well liked he is in Florida, considering how he just lost the state and how he’s done so little as senator. Maybe big things will change in the Republican party and he could be seen as a good candidate and run again, but I’m guessing that he’ll just work at some think tank or do something like that.
He goes and runs a nonprofit for a few years, maybe does some academic work and writes a couple books. As older, wiser Marco he runs for Governor, and then maybe President again. He’s still a good speaker with a great story, but now he has “gravitas” and experience.
Not saying he will, but it’s certainly easy to imagine. My god, Jerry Brown is the sitting Governor of California. Anything is possible.
But we agree then, right? He has to basically rebuild his brand from the ground up.
Either Walker or Rubio could be VP. Assuming neither are, Rubio will run for governor of Florida in 2018(if he’s smart), and Walker will probably end up in a Republican administration or the Senate.
What would be cool is if Nate Silver compiled the career tracks of young officeholders who leave undefeated while still being pretty young. I don’t know what the stats are, but it seems to me that most such politicians continue their careers, and if considered Presidential material once, usually come back for another try. I think Rubio is more likely to try to run again than Walker, but I can’t imagine Walker is just going to go to the private sector permanently. Especially since he’s the guy with the best chance to win a Senate seat for Republicans in 2018.
I can’t imagine a better Democratic “get out the vote” scenario that would work better than a Trump/Walker ticket.
I think so. By becoming the establishment front-man in the primary, he killed the teap-party cred that propelled him to the Senate in 2010. He abandoned his signature issue in an attempt to help his Prez primary chances, and as a standard barer for the establishment, his primary campaign was basically a train-wreck. I don’t think there’s much of a natural Rubio constituency left anymore.
Plus, if he wanted to stay in politics, he presumably would’ve kept his Senate seat, or at least waited till he had the primary locked down to leave it. I kinda think he’s already decided that it was the “Presidency or bust”, and will leave elected politics. I suspect he’ll find some well-paid, psuedo-job working for a rightwing thinktank to manage some sort of half-hearted Hispanic outreach effort.
Maybe. Democrats usually don’t come out to oppose anyone. They didn’t come out against Bush very well. Democrats need to have someone to vote for, as demonstrated by them coming out for Obama in record numbers.
Besides, Walker isn’t that inflammatory when you’ve already got Trump on the ticket. Walker could be unnecessarily problematic if John Kasich was the nominee. But if we assume Trump is the nominee I don’t think it matters who Trump picks or what he says or does. Trump’s viability doesn’t follow the normal rules of politics.
I can’t see Walker being anyone’s VP pick this cycle. I guess I could see him with a cabinet position in the future. I also don’t see him being successful in a run for the presidency; this last time showed him as a very regional candidate with basically one note: “I fought unions” which got him zero traction.
Supposedly the FL gubernatorial race in 2018 is going to be very crowded and I don’t see Rubio breaking through there after his crushing defeat this year. I also can’t imagine who would have him on the ballot with them this cycle. His best bet is probably a job at a think tank or something similar, trying to rebuild some credentials and push policy from the outside.
Eh, I guess that’s just not the way I’d put it. It’s not like he was embroiled in some scandal, betrayed some core principle that he has to repent for, or is dramatically at odds with GOP voters on a slew of issues. He got rolled by Chuck Schumer, and then he lost an election in a crazy year.
IMO “rebuild his brand from the ground up” is much too strong. Long-term, 90% of his brand is fine.
So Rubio just has to reform the loser, quitter,robot, and soft on immigration part of his brand. Is “a good religious man” 90% of his brand? Not so sure, myself.
OTOH, Wisconsin’s economy and state budget are kind of a mess; Walker’s policies haven’t delivered the improvement that he promised, and his approval rating in the state continues to suffer (as of a few weeks ago, his approval rating was at 39%). Unless things improve there, he may face a difficult re-election campaign, and would have little to show as far as “success stories” to mount future campaigns.
You might want to read this fascinating Miami Herald story on Rubio’s career: The rise and stall of Marco Rubio
The premise of the article is that Rubio’s entire political career is a house built on sand. He has little interest in governing, has almost no substantive accomplishments, and has managed to alienate many of the people who helped him advance. He’s already acquired a reputation as a bridge-burner and a lazy absentee office-holder.
If he wants another shot at POTUS, he’ll have to start over from square one; I don’t think he has the patience for that. I suspect he’ll become a lobbyist.
[wipes hands] Yes, sweetie, yes we have. But it’s all right. They’ll both be very happy at . . . the farm. The farm upstate. Lots of room to run around.
It’ll be crowded because there’s no obvious big name running. Rubio would take all the oxygen out of the field if he entered.
By that time he’ll be two years out of the Senate and his name will be a memory nobody cherishes.
Most voters don’t have memories as short as you think. Two years is not enough for a Senator and state house speaker to be forgotten.
I didn’t see either of them get staked, but if The Hellmouth opens, all bets are off.