Going to pick

Walker: Only 12 states are going to pick the next president

By Nick Gass

The presidential election will not be decided by all states, but rather just 12 of them, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says.

"The nation as a whole is not going to elect the next president," Walker said in response to a question from CNBC's John Harwood in an interview published Tuesday in which the journalist questioned how he could put together a winning formula for 2016 if he could not attract voters from more diverse backgrounds.

Noting Walker's strong embrace of former President Ronald Reagan, Harwood mentioned that the Republican won the 1980 election with an electorate that was 88 percent white, similar to the composition of voters in Wisconsin who reelected the governor last year.

"That is not a winning formula nationally, because the national electorate is not 88 percent white," Harwood posited.

Walker responded by saying that he's going to win in two of those 12 states, like Wisconsin and in New Hampshire, where the interview was conducted, by doing what he did to win his gubernatorial elections at home.