SCOTT'S PROGRESS – AT 11:46 A.M. ET:  Scott Walker is very methodical.  That much we have learned about him.  And he's running a disciplined, careful campaign for the White House.  He hasn't yet actually announced his formal candidacy, but that is coming.  Is his campaign, though, too careful? From The Hill:

Scott Walker edged closer to a White House bid this week, but his official entry into the race is still not expected until mid-July.

The Wisconsin governor’s slow-moving campaign launch could cause him to lose altitude, some observers say, since other top-tier candidates such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are already in.

“The biggest risk is that, with every week, donors start to make decisions about who they want to invest in,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs at Princeton University.

“The voters who are paying attention now are shaping their perceptions of who’s good and who’s bad, and they are not really thinking about him as much as the others,” Zelizer added.
When it comes to donors, however, Walker’s Thursday announcement of a new “testing the waters” committee might help. The new committee has more leeway than an official campaign under election-finance regulations, and its formation crystallizes the sense that Walker is indeed moving toward a presidential run.

He is widely expected to join the race on July 13 in his native Wisconsin, the state where he has been governor since 2011. He won a recall battle in 2012 and reelection in 2014.

And...

Walker is performing very well in opinion polls, especially in Iowa. In three of the four most recent polls among Republicans in the Hawkeye State, he led his nearest rival by either seven or eight percentage points. The other survey also showed him leading, but by a more modest margin of four points.

In New Hampshire, where Walker’s socially conservative outlook is less of an asset, he is nonetheless running a close second to Bush in the RealClearPolitics polling average. The equivalent national polling average shows the two in a de facto dead-heat.

Walker has made such strides while neither seeking nor attracting as much national media attention as Bush, Rubio or even candidates whose poll numbers are lower, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Walker’s participation in Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) barbecue-and-motorcycle-riding “roast and ride” event two weeks ago — he rode his own Harley-Davidson — was one of his relatively rare high-profile events of late.

Some Republicans believe that Walker’s skills are being underestimated by a news media that don't recognize his blue-collar appeal.

COMMENT:  Walker is not Mr. Excitement, but he builds confidence in the voters.  He's a fighter.  He doesn't give up.  He won the governorship of Wisconsin, fought back against a recall attempt and came out with more votes than in his original victory, and won re-election.  Don't underestimate him.

June 21, 2015