This article reinforces my suspicion that Walker is the fallback candidate for the uniparty establishment. Note that they say little about Cruz, even though they’re essentially tied in the polls. Note the headline as well. A better title for this article would be “You thought Christie and Bush suck, so pretty please vote for Walker.”
We may not like them, but the GOP-e is not stupid. They have to realize that Bush will not garner our support and that he’d likely go the way of McCain and Romney in the general. They do fear Cruz, though, so you hit the nail on the head. They likely will end up supporting Walker when push comes to shove, since they figure we’d be more likely to support Walker in the general than we are to support Bush.
Of course, they likely will push Bush for all he’s worth, but I’m thinking that Walker will win out in the end mainly because he’s not really either the GOP-e’s nor the Tea Party’s first choice, but because he likely would be an acceptable second choice for both.
Bingo.
I don't think Walker is anything even remotely close to Jeb or Christie given the hostility he got from the left.