Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggested Monday that it’s nice for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to come campaign for him, but what Walker really needs is money.
Walker, said on Monday according to Politico, said Christie, as the head of the Republican Governors Association “is coming because he asked if he could come and we weren’t going to say no.”
“But we’re not looking for surrogates. The people have been campaigning with me are by and large from Wisconsin,” Walker continued.
Walker, instead, stressed that national Republicans could actually help him by giving him a boost in TV spending. Walker said that the help he’s gotten from out-of-state allies have been dwarfed by the money supporters of Democrat Mary Burke have spent to help her beat Walker.
“I’m hopeful that, just as they have in the past, at least some of the national governors associations have come in and helped,” Walker said. “We can’t coordinate [spending with outside groups] in this state, so we have to see it once it’s up on the air. But they did in 2010 and 2012 and I’m hopeful — I believe they will again this time.”
It’s a comment that, as Politico noted, seems to reinforce a report in The Weekly Standard which said that “influential Wisconsin Republicans” were holding back from doing what was necessary to really help Walker. Walker and Christie, it should be noted, have both been floated as top tier 2016 presidential candidates.
The Republican Governors Association is expected to spend $8 million to help Walker this time, more than the $5.2 million it spent on Walker’s first gubernatorial campaign but less than the $9 million it shelled out to defend him from a recall campaign.
The TPM Polltracker finds Burke with a 0.1 point lead over Walker.
