New Republic has an article today outlining Scott Walker's strengths as the next Republican nominee for President. It's a convincing argument, and he certainly gives every indication he's up for the fight.
The key elements are:
1) He can appeal to the religious right, which is so essential to winning Republican primaries.
2) He can win the backing of the Chamber of Commerce types. In fact, I've always considered him the hand-picked delegate of the Koch Brothers, just like the railroad magnates used to pick US Senators back before the 17th amendment.
3) He can win the support of the people that resent the benefits earned by public employees and the safety net offered to people who, for whatever reason, aren't working.
4) He has proven that, by combining thse constituencies, he can win election and survive a recall in a non-southern, non-red state.
I think Walker would be a formidable opponent. Unlike Romney, he is not a poster boy Richy Rich. Unlike Huckabee and Santorum, he is not threatening people with God's eternal judgement. Unlike the Tea Party love children, he can actually win an election. And unlike Chris Christie, who has to realistically concern himself with a large union constituency, Walker can nurture hatred of government workers, the unemployed, and and pretty much anyone who doesn't look like a good Lutheran dairy farmer (apologies to Garisson Keillor) with impunity.
It is unlikely core R's and Ds will change their minds about anything, so perhaps the next race will depend on whether compassion or resentment can carry the day among the large population of relatively apolitical citizens. Those are issues of the heart, not the head, and empathy arises from experience, not from thinking; from knowing that it is your kids, your siblings, and your neighbors who need help. I hope as a nation we learn to see more of our citizens as friends and neighbors and fewer as adversaries taking away what is ours.