Sept. 21, 2015

Scott Walker (Getty

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination failed to catch fire not because of the dramatic rise of Donald Trump but due to the fact that Walker "never understood how to apply his record at the state level to the federal level," Dick Morris tells Newsmax TV.

 

"What he needed to do was to talk about the insidious power of unions and [how they were] crippling education in this country and make education his big issue and use that to get women over the gender gap but he never did. He just ran as if this was a state race and he was just continuing his state campaign," Morris, a Newsmax TV political analyst and best-selling author of "Power Grab: Obama's Dangerous Plan for a One-Party Nation," told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner.

Walker abruptly ended his campaign Monday after plummeting in the polls following lackluster performances in the first two GOP debates.

 

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A CNN/ORC poll released on Sunday gave him less than 1 percent support among Republican voters. In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll of the Republican field, he received 3 percent of support.

 

 

 

Morris dismissed the soaring popularity of outsider candidate Trump as the chief reason for Walker's rapid decline.

 

"Obviously nobody's at 20 percent because of Trump and now [Carly] Fiorina and before that [Ben] Carson sucking up the air but plenty of people are at six, seven, eight and nine and 10 happily swimming along and expecting as the frontrunner stays they'll come to the fore," Morris said.

 

"The reason Walker dropped out, the reason Walker never caught on, is he had a fabulous record in Wisconsin but he never made the transition from a state campaign to a federal campaign. He never understood how to apply his record at the state level to the federal level.

 

"With [Sen. Ted] Cruz, [Sen. Rand] Paul and [Sen. Marco] Rubio it's no trick because their record is at federal level and they just carry it on."

 

Morris also said another factor worked against the governor.

 

"The other thing is that he is just way too young-looking for the race. When I met him at a fundraiser in 2010 he greeted me at the door. I thought he was the kid that parked the cars."

 

Walker adviser Robert C. O'Brien, an attorney who is managing partner of Arent Fox LLP and a foreign affairs commentator, expressed his surprise at the candidate's sudden departure from the race.

 

"A day can be a lifetime in politics. We were disappointed. We thought there might be some sort of a campaign shakeup but we thought that Gov. Walker would be in this for the longer haul," O'Brien said.

 

"He made the political calculation but it was best for the country and best for his family to step aside. We certainly respect that. We think he planted a real strong campaign and interjected great ideas into the debate."

 

O'Brien feels Walker had a winning message that didn't get through to the general public.

 

"The feeling was Gov. Walker wanted to run a campaign like Ronald Reagan did," he said. "Shrink the federal government and grow the United States military. He really pushed those issues hard. We thought they were issues that would have resonance with the American people but this has been a tough campaign.

 

"It's been a very interesting primary season, unlike I've ever seen in my career. We gave it a great shot and I was proud to be associated with the governor. He's a young man, and he's got a bright future in American politics. I don't think we've seen the end of Scott Walker.