I am puzzled. Here Scott Walker was supposed to be a “place-holder” for Establishment Republicans, and Ted Cruz is - anything BUT Establishment.
Didn’t all the “smart money” say that the support from Scott Walker would transfer to Jeb Bush?
What happened?
(I am playing Devil’s Advocate here. Give a good answer, and it will help to propel a LOT of clarification.)
I'll give it a stab: First, I think you might have been over sold that Walker as a place holder for the establishment meme. Walker won tea party elections, and kind of had one foot in the estab camp but still one foot in the conservative camp. And his anti union actions in Wisconsin were NOT liked by the estabs in Washington.
Which leads me to the next point, which is that a lot of Walker supporters are not part of the establishment at all. And many Walker supporters liked Cruz as their second choice anyway. Thus it makes sense that Walker's withdrawal would help Cruz. Might help Rubio some too. Like I said, one foot in each camp.
Politics is usually far more pragmatic than ideological purists want it to be. Political endorsements are frequently made strategically or on the basis of personal relationships.
Walker is a governor (executive experience) and proven fighter. Those are very attractive qualities, at least initially.
Jeb isn’t all that popular with other Republican officeholders because he hasn’t done much general fundraising for them, while Chris Christie holds a lot of IOUs from being head of the Republican Governors Association.
Ted Cruz has been much more active than Rubio at supporting other GOP candidates.
Not everything is about ideology, but ideology does play a role.