Won’t Be a Problem

Walker Reassures S. Carolinians That Raising Money Won’t Be a Problem

By Patrick Healy

Whenever he meets a new room of Republican voters, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin usually starts off by thanking them for their prayers. He did so on Thursday afternoon, during his first swing through South Carolina as a potential presidential candidate – but he also thanked them for their money, and bragged a bit in case anyone doubted his ability to raise funds nationally for a White House bid.

Mr. Walker said South Carolinans were among “almost 300,000 donors in the past four years” from all 50 states who contributed to his campaigns for governor in 2010 and 2014 and especially during his high-profile recall election in 2012, which became a cause célèbre on conservative talk radio after Mr. Walker’s contentious battle against public-sector labor unions.

“Only Mitt Romney has more donors on the Republican side than that, and obviously he’s a former nominee,” Mr. Walker added.

Mr. Walker, who has attracted strong early support from conservatives for the Republican presidential nomination, is under pressure to prove that he can raise enough money to compete against former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, another potential candidate in 2016 who already has a formidable network of donors who have backed him, his father and his brother over the decades.

Mr. Bush has attended several fund-raisers this winter with wealthy Republican donors. While Mr. Walker has done some events, he has focused more on building a political operation and introducing himself to Republican officials and activists in crucial early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. He is speaking at state party fund-raisers here on Thursday and Friday, and also trying to recruit political operatives and activists to help him in the state if he runs.

Mr. Walker did not mention Mr. Bush or Mr. Bush’s wealthy friends, but the governor did cast himself as a favorite of small-dollar donors: He said 70 percent of the people who had donated to his campaigns gave $75 or less.