Cruz / Rubio, I had not thought of that one. I think Cruz / Walker would be dynamite. But the former would be good too.
Cruz/West would an awesome conservative ticket, but if Cruz gets the nomination, pretty sure it will be Cruz/Walker. It just makes too much sense.
Walker would give Cruz cover with the GOP establishment. And as I much as I can’t stand the establishment, it will be tough to win a general election without having them on board. I think Walker would be the only running mate acceptable to the establishment who isn’t a total sellout, like Jeb or Christie, for example.
It’s an old cliche, but I gotta say it: Walker would bring “balance” to the ticket:
Texas, part of the old deep south, balanced with Wisconsin, part of the midwest. North-South, with a bit of West thrown in. At least half of the Dem ticket is gonna be Eastern Seabord. Perhaps the whole ticket.
Senator with mostly legislative and judicial experience balanced with governor with mostly executive experience
Social/Constitutional conservative (Cruz) balanced with mostly fiscal conservative (Walker)
Ivy league (Cruz, Princeton and Harvard) balanced with Big East Conference (Walker, Marquette)
There are other differences between the two, such as their private sector experience. Cruz worked for a law firm before getting fully into politics. Walker has some sales and marketing experience.
In Politics, Cruz started out as a policy advisor to the Bush43 campaign. Walker was a volunteer for Tommy Thompson’s gubernatorial campaign while in college. His jobs in elected office were state legislator, then county executive and then governor.
Both are the sons of Baptist preachers. Cruz is a Southern Baptist, while Walker attends a nondenominational Christian church.
Each man appeals to different big time donors, so the ticket would not be underfunded in a general election.
Cruz will be 45 years old in 2016; Walker will be 48 (roughly the same ages as Clinton and Gore were they ran in 1992 plus or minus a few years). So a Cruz-Walker ticket would be much younger and more dynamic than a Democrat ticket with a sixty-something-year-old at the top.
Cruz and Walker both have attractive spouses. Cruz has two daughters; Walker has two sons. Very photogenic stuff. Hillary has... Bill. And Chelsea. No contest when the cameras do their thing.
Walker has the lowest net worth of any serious residential contender ($72,500). Cruz has an estimated net worth of about $3 million and change (most of it likely from wife Heidi’s job at Goldman). Cruz and Walker would look like paupers compared to Hillary, with her ill-gotten gains, so no Mitt Romney rich guy issues there like the Dems used against him in 2012.
I think a Cruz-Walker ticket would scare the crap out of the Dems. And with good reason.
- JP