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Scott Walker is expected to announce at 5pm Central time today that he's suspending his campaign for president. Liz Mair — who Walker briefly hired in March, then fired, after a single day, because she'd once said some mean things about Iowa — has some suggestions as to why his campaign has failed. And she is airing them, on Twitter.
2. Walker did a number of things wrong in this race. This is the beginning of what will be a lengthy list.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Things he got wrong: Misunderstanding the GOP base, its priorities and stances. Pandering. Flip-flopping.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Hiring staff who did not know him well and did not understand his record or his reputation across all segments in Wisconsin.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Allowing certain staff (ahem) to marginalize and cut off people in Walker's orbit who had got him to the governorship and kept him there.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Becoming so invested in winning, no matter what it took, that he lost sight of his real identity as a political leader.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Hiring people who spent a lot to build out a massive operation that would not be sustainable unless financing remained amazing forever.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Treating Iowa as locked down, boasting early of the ability to win even in states like Nevada where winning always looked improbable.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Minor things that didn't help: Key staff spending their time on, uh, stuff other than work when campaign was flailing.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Not training himself out of tics incl instinctively answering "yes" and "absolutely" to things, comparing lots of things to union fight.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
Not educating himself fast enough on issues outside governor's remit. Educating himself on some things by talking to the wrong people.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
I said at the time to people who wrote that Walker would lose because he fired me that that was bullshit and silly.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
But I also feared that the reasons behind his firing of me would be the ultimate causes of his demise. Now that appears to be true.
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) September 21, 2015
CORRECTION: The Walker press conference is scheduled for 5p Central time, not 4p. The author apologizes for her failure at math.
