Call it Governor Scott Walker’s “southern strategy. Walker was in Alabama and Tennessee over the weekend, and completes a campaign trip through several Southern states on Monday with stops in North and South Carolina.
“This Southern swing is a signal of his intent to compete to win in early states, SEC Primary states, and beyond” the Walker campaign said.
The self-described “son of a preacher man” is counting on strong support from conservative Bible Belt Republicans to inject a note of optimism into his flagging presidential campaign. Early national polls continue to show unfiltered real estate mogul Donald Trump leading the pack of 17 declared GOP candidates, with former Florida governor Jeb Bush second and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson third.
The Wisconsin governor did fare well in one recent poll: the latest Marquette Law school poll had Walker as the preferred choice among 25 percent of likely GOP primary voters in Wisconsin.