# Have we seen the last of Scott Walker and/or Marco Rubio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 16, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187 "2016-03-16T18:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/41 "2016-03-17T20:46:57Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Walker thinks God wants him to be President,… He is confusing the Koch brothers with God. They are not the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/42 "2016-03-17T21:03:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The point is that while Ryan lost, his defeat wasn’t humiliating. He’s still a contender. He also kept his former office, so he didn’t have to start from scratch. Plus, generally speaking, people don’t pin the losses of Presidential ticket on the VP nominee. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/43 "2016-03-17T22:41:40Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > He also kept his former office, so he didn’t have to start from scratch. > > Plus, generally speaking, people don’t pin the losses of Presidential ticket on the VP nominee. For what it’s worth, only one failed VP candidate has run for President later and won: FDR, who was James Cox’s running mate in 1920. Also, only one Speaker has been elected POTUS: James K. Polk in 1844. I’m not saying Ryan has no shot; I think he does, particularly if there’s a contested convention. But being on a losing ticket and serving as Speaker doesn’t necessarily improve his chances. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/44 "2016-03-17T23:42:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The point is that while Ryan lost, his defeat wasn’t humiliating. He’s still a contender. Yeah, the GOP ticket didn’t lose because of Ryan. Really, Ryan was largely an afterthought to the whole thing (remember when he was picked and people sagely declared that now it’d be an “issues election”… for ten minutes?) In comparison, Rubio turned his promising campaign into the Rubiobot meme and then, with the backing of the establishment behind him, lost primary after primary after primary culminating in Rubio desperately trying to win via dick jokes and insults before losing his own state by twenty points. THAT’S humiliating. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/45 "2016-03-18T00:48:46Z")
Walker is viable, even Rubio is also. He can run for another office and build his resume and run in 2024 or even 2020. Failing to get the nomination is not a political death sentence, Hillary Clinton got creamed in 2008 and is almost assuredly winning this time around and Ronald Reagan was unsuccessful in 1976, but came back in 1980. Mitt Romney lost the nomination in 2008, but won in 2012. John McCain failed in 2000, but got nominated in 2008. I know there are different cases, but overall you can come back and get your party’s nomination. For Marco Rubio it’s better than if he got the nomination but lost the general election. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/46 "2016-03-18T00:51:06Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > He is confusing the Koch brothers with God. They are not the same thing. God **thinks** He’s a Koch. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/47 "2016-03-18T00:52:55Z")
If your God is money, then yeah, they kinda are. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/48 "2016-03-18T01:30:12Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’ve seen the other possible candidates. If Rubio runs, he’ll win pretty easily. Do you live in Florida? (Honest question BTW). Maybe my perception is colored by the fact that I live in the capital and tend to run in fairly political circles, but even my hardcore GOP friends think Rubio is a lightweight stuffed shirt. They all supported JEB, then Cruz or Kasich (or Trump for the really far-out ones). ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/49 "2016-03-18T01:47:24Z")
I think adaher does live in Florida but he’s still being silly. Being that confident that Rubio would win the governorship 2 years from now? I know you like making predictions, dude, but come on. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/50 "2016-03-18T01:56:30Z")
Walker’s viable for _something_, I’m just not sure what. I’m not sure he’d win a senate run and I’m not sure he’d want that job anyway – going from a chief executive job to junior senator and 1% of the Senate happens sometimes but I don’t know if the mindset for each is comparable. Seems to make more sense when someone is part of that 1% and then gets ambitious to be the man in charge and runs for governor/president. That’s why I picture him getting tapped for a cabinet position where he’d get to run an executive department. Or maybe he’d try and retool his pitch and run for president again. I’m skeptical that he’d get much further though; probably have more luck riding someone elses coattails to a DC role. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/51 "2016-03-18T02:00:45Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I think adaher does live in Florida but he’s still being silly. Being that confident that Rubio would win the governorship 2 years from now? I know you like making predictions, dude, but come on. There may be better candidates, such as Adam Putnam, but Rubio is the most well known and would probably be the most well funded. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/52 "2016-03-18T02:04:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There may be better candidates, such as Adam Putnam, but Rubio is the most well known and would probably be the most well funded. Why? He just flushed a bunch of money down the toilet? And while I agree name recognition is important, it seems the height of hubris to be so sure that over the next two years no one could step up and mop the floor with this lightweight. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/53 "2016-03-18T02:28:42Z")
That assumes he’s actually a lightweight and won’t get better. He was already campaigning much better after Christie exposed him. Now it could be that donors have given up on Rubio and will back Putnam instead, but if Rubio is on the ballot, he’s going to have by far the most name recognition, and he’ll be facing a weak Democrat in a state that has been pretty red in terms of state elections for some time now. Is Rubio the best candidate for the office? Probably not, but name recognition and charisma can get a guy pretty far, especially in a smaller pond. Any national figure should have a major advantage in a state race against more local pols. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/54 "2016-03-18T12:54:59Z")
Rubio says he’s not interested in being Veep, reelected to the Senate or Governor of Florida next time: [Republican Marco Rubio not making a play for 2016 vice presidency](http://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/17/republican-marco-rubio-not-making-a-play-for-2016-vice-presidenc/21329615/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/55 "2016-03-18T18:48:32Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > …Failing to get the nomination is not a political death sentence, Hillary Clinton got creamed in 2008 and is almost assuredly winning this time around … Hilary didn’t get creamed in 2008. In the Democratic primaries of 2008, Clinton won more of the popular vote than Obama (48.04% to 47.31 for Obama). She won 23 states and territories, compared to Obama’s 33. She had 1973 delegates, compared to Obama’s 2285.5. That’s not being creamed. That’s running a strong campaign that went to the wire. > **[2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_2008)** > > Clinton > Obama > [@](#): > > Ronald Reagan was unsuccessful in 1976, but came back in 1980. He was a contender. He had enough delegates in the 1976 Convention to put on an impressive floor fight. He was putting down a marker for 1980. > [@](#): > > Mitt Romney lost the nomination in 2008, but won in 2012. John McCain failed in 2000, but got nominated in 2008. Both made respectable showing in their primary runs and essentially came in second. Now look at Rubio. He’s won one and only one state: Minnesota, the home of Mondale and Franken. Not a Republican stronghold. And he lost his home state, Florida, by almost 20%. Given that Florid is often a key swing state, that’s quite a black mark. And finally, none of those other candidates got shivved by a New Jersey DA on national tv, looking like an empty suit. How well do you think he could stand up to someone like Putin? He’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/56 "2016-03-24T23:52:29Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > He also kept his former office, so he didn’t have to start from scratch. > > Plus, generally speaking, people don’t pin the losses of Presidential ticket on the VP nominee. Sme people (including me) think that the choice Palin led, at least in part, to McCain’s defeat. It showed such poor judgment on his part, that it frightened people. But I think Romney lost it on his own and it didn’t damage Ryan. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/57 "2016-03-25T00:17:58Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Why? He just flushed a bunch of money down the toilet? And while I agree name recognition is important, it seems the height of hubris to be so sure that over the next two years no one could step up and mop the floor with this lightweight. Keywords: a bunch of **other people’s** money. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/58 "2016-03-25T00:40:10Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Sme people (including me) think that the choice Palin led, at least in part, to McCain’s defeat. It showed such poor judgment on his part, that it frightened people. But I think Romney lost it on his own and it didn’t damage Ryan. Wasn’t McCain getting his ass kicked before he nominated Palin and she was a hail Mary to try to catch up? It might have made his defeat worse, but it wasn’t the cause. 8 years of George Bush was the cause. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/59 "2016-03-25T00:50:43Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Wasn’t McCain getting his ass kicked before he nominated Palin and she was a hail Mary to try to catch up? It might have made his defeat worse, but it wasn’t the cause. 8 years of George Bush was the cause. It was primarily the ‘don’t change horses in midstream’ theory that won reelection for Dubyah. At that point it wasn’t really clear how much he (and, of course, Cheney) had lied to the public. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187/60 "2016-03-25T13:26:12Z")
McCain picking Palin was indeed a Hail Mary attempt, but what made it so idiotic was that he _wasn’t_ getting his ass kicked at the time. He was behind, yes, but it was a third-and-two sort of situation, where you just need to get a little more yardage. It was only after picking Palin that his situation really got desperate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-seen-the-last-of-scott-walker-and-or-marco-rubio/749187.md?page=4)