John Lumea

About That "Draft Walker Poll" of966 Florida Registered Voters

In its launch press release of 23 April, the Committee
to Get Walker Running — a.k.a. Draft Walker — billed
itself as a

grassroots and youth-driven initiative to get our country’s fiscal house in order by drafting David Walker...as an independent candidate for president through Americans Elect.

A "grassroots and youth-driven initiative."

To be sure, the Committee is managed by Nick Troiano, who just last month stepped down from a 2-year stint as National Campus Director at Americans Elect, and who — at 22 — is himself barely a year out of Georgetown University.

And yet, the Committee — which is registered as a PAC with the FEC (pdf link) — claims to have conducted an April 2012 public opinion survey of 966 Florida registered voters, to gauge support for a David Walker candidacy.

Not generally the sort of activity that one associates with a project that is totally "grassroots" and "youth-driven."

::   ::   ::

LET'S HAVE a closer look, shall we?

The Committee's home page at DraftWalker.com* includes a rotator feature — right side, scroll down — that cites two results from a poll that explicitly is sourced as "Draft Walker poll of 966 Florida voters, +/- 3.15%, April 2012."

The two results are:

1
75% of voters believe an independent candidate
should take part in this fall's Presidential debates.

and

2
39% of voters are open to voting for David Walker
in this year's Presidential election.

A few more details about this poll — including the
specific date — are available from a "Draft David
Walker Overview" document that is part of a list of downloadable "Volunteer Resources" toward the
bottom of the Web site's "Get Involved" page.

This Overview document (pdf link) includes,
in a Frequently Asked Questions section, the
following:

Will the American people support this effort?

We recently conducted a public opinion survey to help answer that question. Results are based on an April 9th poll of 966 registered Florida voters (+/- 3.5%).

• After sharing some information about David Walker, 39% said they would be open to voting for him if his name appeared on the general election ballot.

• We found that his primary appeal to these voters is that his top issue is fiscal responsibility. This is no surprise given that 86% reported to be concerned (69% "very concerned") about our country's fiscal situation.

• Overwhelming support, 75%, was given to idea of an independent candidate being able to debate President Obama and the Republican nominee this fall.

::   ::   ::

CURIOUSLY, these hushed mentions — intermittently flashing at the bottom of the Draft Walker home page and buried in a Draft Walker volunteer document — appear to be the only two references to this large survey, by the Committee or anybody else.

But the scant information that the "grassroots and youth-driven" Committee to Get Walker Running provides about this "Draft Walker poll" still manages to tell us a number of important things:

• The survey included a relatively large sample
  of 966 registered voters in Florida.

• This was a telephone survey with a script of several questions and follow-up questions.

• The survey includes margins of error, and
  is presented as a scientific poll.

All of this suggests a survey that was designed, written and conducted by a professional pollster
or polling firm or PR/branding firm with polling capabilities — not a handful of college students and recent college graduates.

So here are a couple of questions for the Draft Walker committee...

1
Where can one access the full survey and results of
this 9 April 2012 telephone survey of 966 Florida
registered voters?

2
Which pollster or polling firm or PR/branding firm
actually ran this survey?

3
Is this pollster, polling firm or PR/branding firm connected — in any way — (a) to Americans Elect;
(b) to David Walker; or (c) to persons, firms or organizations who are connected to Americans Elect
or to David Walker?

::   ::   ::

THE OTHER QUESTION, of course, is: Who paid for this polling work?

Draft Walker — the Committee to Get Walker Running — may have paid for the work. Someone else, acting on the Committee's behalf, may have paid an individual pollster or firm directly for the work. Or a pollster or firm may have contributed all, or part, of the work pro bono.

Either way, the answers to all of these questions would put a good bit of meat on the bones of David Walker's confirmation of Neil Cavuto's observation that Draft Walker is "backing it up with money."

Walker went on to tell Cavuto that he himself is "not involved with" the Draft Walker committee, and that
he has "not had communications with them."

But veteran journalist Alexis Simendinger originally reported this week that Walker had "cooperated with" Committee treasurer and manager Nick Troiano.

In an email on Tuesday afternoon, I asked Simendinger about this; and I noticed yesterday evening that the intriguing "cooperated with" had been dialed back to
the somewhat labored "acknowledged the efforts of."

Still. This rather professional-sounding survey of
Florida voters is one of a number of clues that the "youth-driven" Committee to Get Walker Running
may be operating with more than a little bit of adult supervision — and the adult money that goes with it.

The question is: Who are the adults in this room?

* Attempting to visit the home page of DraftWalker.com
frequently generates a splash sign-up feature that obscures
the page. To make this pop-up disappear, simply click to
either side of the pop-up.

Who's Funding Draft Walker? Looks Like David Walker Knows

David Walker has become a ubiquitous presence, of late, on national television news programs.

Last Monday — the same day that the Committee to
Get Walker Running launched its Draft Walker effort with a new Web site, a press release, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed — Walker was on MSNBC talking with Chuck Todd about the effort to draft him as a candidate on the Americans Elect line (video).

This past Sunday, Walker was on ABC as a panelist on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, who introduced Walker by saying that he was "from what I read online, perhaps an independent for President, this time around" (videos at the bottom of this item).

The fact is, with his media appearances and statements, no one has done more to fuel speculation about a David Walker candidacy than David Walker.

Indeed, although Walker tries to position himself as someone who is watching all of this from a distance — someone who knows only what he reads in the papers — Walker has given a number of cues, this past two weeks, that he knows a lot more about Draft Walker than he's letting on.

Yesterday, Walker was on Fox Business with Neil Cavuto. Apropos the question of the moment — Who's funding Draft Walker? — here's the relevant exchange (video starting at 0:48 — emphasis mine):

CAVUTO: You interested?

WALKER: I'm not a candidate, and I don't expect to be a candidate. I would rather run a issue-oriented campaign rather than a political campaign. But the fact is—

CAVUTO: But they think you could.

WALKER: Well, whether you can and whether you will are two different things. What I would prefer to do—

CAVUTO: They're backing it up with money, Dave.

WALKER: I understand that — well, I don't know that much about it, candidly. It's a truly independent effort. I'm not involved with it. I've not had communications with them.

 

A few observations:

1
When Cavuto says "they," he is referring to the Draft Walker committee and its supporters and volunteers.

2
When a national news anchor — whether on Fox or
any other network — says "They're backing it up with money," the word "money" is code for a significant amount of money. The kind of money that influences — and is intended to influence — decisions.

3
From the tone and the delivery of both Cavuto's comment — "They're backing it up with money, Dave" — and Walker's response — "I understand that" — it seems very clear that both host and guest are trading on the same background information.

Both Walker and Cavuto take two things as givens:
(a) that a pile of money is being made available for a Walker presidential run and (b) where that money is coming from.

4
What also seems clear is that David Walker does not want this information made public.

Note how Walker bows his head and looks away, as he
is saying "I understand that."

Notice, too, how fiercely Walker starts to backpedal — and that he introduces vigorous "denial" body
language — the instant those three words are out of
his mouth. "I don't know that much about it, candidly."
A classic "protest too much"-ish "tell" of someone who knows that he just has revealed a lot more than he intended to reveal.

But the cat already was out of the bag. Rough translation of what David Walker said to Neil Cavuto: "I'm aware that some big checks have been written or pledged to Draft Walker. I even know who the check writers are.
But — candidly — I don't know that much about Draft Walker. I don't talk to them directly."

Candidly. Like "frankly." One of those little words that almost never means what it says.

"I don 't know that much about it, candidly."

But I do know some.

::   ::   ::

So who's funding Draft Walker?

David Walker and Neil Cavuto seem to know.

Perhaps they and the committee would like to share
with the rest of us.

David Walker's Bio at the Draft Walker and No Labels Salon

It's very well known that Americans Elect advisory board member and draft candidate David Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States.

It also is very well known that Walker is a co-founder of the group No Labels.

Indeed, Walker himself — in the statement he released last Tuesday, through his Comeback America Initiative — explicitly named No Labels as one of the things in his schedule that leaves little room for a presidential run right now:

I am not a candidate and don’t expect to become one. Rather, I am focused on
my many responsibilities, including serving...as a national co-founder
of No Labels and as a member of
A[mericans] E[lect]’s Board of Advisors.

And yet...

Had you visited NoLabels.org two days later — the same day that DraftWalker.com, the Web site of the Committee to Get Walker Running ("Draft Walker"), sprang to life — and had you scanned the "Our People" page, where for months Walker had been listed as a Co-Founder, you'd have come up empty. David Walker was nowhere to be found. Scrubbed.

Moreover...

When Draft Walker officially launched this past Monday, the committee did not mention Walker's role at No Labels (or, for that matter, his role at Americans Elect) in its press release — or in its bio of Walker — or in the editorial published the same day by committee co-chairs Yoni Gruskin and Ryan Schoenike.

::   ::   ::

By yesterday, David Walker's listing at NoLabels.org
had been restored — but with a difference.

On the "Our People" page at the No Labels site,
persons in various categories — from "Co-Founders" to "Citizen Leaders" to "Back Office Staff" — are presented initially as part of either a "grid" or a "list," with their names, photos and thumbnail biographical sketches. Clicking on any specific person's name directs to a dedicated page for that person, and sometimes this includes a slightly longer bio.

Here's a screenshot from the cache of David Walker's dedicated page at NoLabels.org, as it appeared on
April 5 — exactly two weeks before DraftWalker.com went from being a splash page to a full-fledged site (albeit a relatively simple one):

Click to enlarge.

At that time, as you can see, Walker's bio read:

Dave Walker has over 30-years of public, private and not-for-profit sector leadership experience. He has received three Presidential appointments with unanimous Senate confirmation from Presidents of both major parties, including his most recent as Comptroller General of the United States (1998-2008).

Here's a screenshot Walker's photo and thumbnail
bio, as it currently appears in the grid version of the
"Our People" page at NoLabels.org. The text of the bio
is the same, in the list version:

Click to enlarge.

Now, as you can see, Walker's bio reads:

Dave Walker has over 30-years of public, private and not-for-profit sector leadership experience.

Notice two things about David Walker's "new" bio at NoLabels.org.

First: The references to Walker's "three presidential appointments with unanimous Senate confirmation from Presidents of both major parties" and to his decade as Comptroller General of the United States have been deleted.

Second: It no longer is possible, as it was before — and as it remains with every other Co-Founder and, indeed, with every Citizen Leader and back office staffer on the larger No Labels list of "Our People" — to click Walker's name and get a dedicated photo-and-bio page for him.

::   ::   ::

What's up with all this shuffling and scissoring of
David Walker's bio?

Why is Draft Walker cropping David Walker's
No Labels and Americans Elect connections — if, in
fact, that's what it's doing?

Why, in its bio of David Walker, did No Labels trim the reference to his presidential appointments, including the one — Comptroller General — that anchors his brand as
a fiscal reform advocate?

Why is the biography of the tonsorially challenged Walker getting all these haircuts?

Perhaps even more to the point: Who is ordering them?

Another Question or Two for Mr. Walker of Americans Elect

David Walker wears a lot of hats.

• Former Comptroller General of the United States.

• Co-founder of No Labels.

• Beneficiary of Pete Peterson.

• Member of the Americans Elect Board of Advisors.

• Draft candidate of Americans Elect.

To name just a few.

Recently, Walker talked to the Washington Post (emphasis mine):

[Americans Elect founder and lead investor Peter] Ackerman's enlistment of advisers is formidable....

And from those advisers may come Americans Elect’s face-saving option. In the past month,
a small group of activists has emerged to recruit Dave Walker, an independent who
once ran the Government Accountability
Office, to run for president. Walker, who is
on the Americans Elect board of advisers, said that he knew about the effort and that an Americans Elect employee had stepped down to lead the draft movement. Also
in recent weeks, Americans Elect changed
the requirements Walker needs to meet to
win the nomination, revising the number of online supporters to 1,000 in 10 states
instead of 5,000 in 10 states.

“This is an issue-oriented movement, and they’re trying to put a face to the movement,” Walker said in a phone interview. He said his mission has long been deficit reduction and
the reorganization of the national debt. “For whatever reason, they believe I’m a person who symbolizes that. I guess they kind of view me as a means to an end.”

He remained, however, undecided: “My mama told me a long time ago you never say never.”

On Tuesday morning — the day after the Washington Post ran its piece on Monday — Walker released the following statement through his Comeback America Initiative (emphasis mine):

Reports in the media have mentioned an
effort to draft me as a candidate for President through the Americans Elect (AE) process, and I want to clarify my position. I am aware of this recent independent movement to draft me, which is an initiative by people who evidently share my views regarding the need for fiscal, political and other major reforms to keep America great. Importantly, their effort is unrelated to the Comeback America Initiative (CAI), No Labels, and AE organizations.

While I appreciate and am humbled by their efforts, I am not a candidate and don't expect to become one. Rather, I am focused on my many responsibilities, including serving as
CEO of the non-partisan CAI, as a national co-founder of No Labels, and as a member
of AE's Board of Advisors.

And then, by nightfall on Tuesday — be warned that, if you don't already have whiplash, you may be about to get it — Walker was out with a tweet saying (emphasis mine):

I am not a candidate for public office but will seriously consider it if the Independent Draft Committee qualifies me for the AE ballot. DW

::   ::    ::

Nobody does Americans Elect forensics better than Jim Cook at Irregular Times. And there's very little that I could say, about the connections and disconnections that Walker revealed with these three forays, that Cook didn't already say in his masterfully crisp untangling, on Tuesday evening — before word of Walker's tweeted re-reconsideration began making the rounds on Wednesday morning — of the web of relationships between Unity08, the 2008 Draft Bloomberg committee, Americans Elect, No Labels, Pete Peterson, David Walker and a 2012 Draft Walker committee.

But there is one — OK, a two-in-one — question that especially comes up for me right now, and I'd like to
put this to David Walker...

Mr. Walker, you make reference to "the Independent Draft Committee" and to "this recent independent movement to draft me." You are able to say what "they believe" — and this evidently is a specific "they," since you also are able to speak with declarative confidence in asserting that "their effort is unrelated" to three specific organizations. You even — according to the Washington Post — "knew about the effort and that an Americans Elect employee had stepped down to lead" it.

So, I have to ask...

Exactly which "Independent Draft Committee" —
and which former Americans Elect staffer — are
you talking about?

(Please don't think me rude, everybody, but the rest
of this is addressed to Mr. Walker. Do stick around, though.)

One might hope, I suppose, that someone who liked Americans Elect well enough to go work for it, and who then left the organization to draft someone else who actually was on the Board of Advisors of Americans Elect, would use AmericansElect.org to do the drafting.

Your profile at AmericansElect.org lists only one draft committee — the "'Let's get it done' draft committee for David Walker" — and two leaders of that committee: John Knubel and Richard Sulkovsky.

Is this "the Independent Draft Committee" — and is either John Knubel or Richard Sulkovsky the former employee of Americans Elect — that you're talking
about? Or is this the committee — but the former
staffer is behind the scenes and unnamed?

Or...

I notice that, among the Twitter accounts that re-tweeted your Tuesday night tweet were these two:

1
Rise of the Center — which is associated with the Web site of "centrist" politics run by Solomon Kleinsmith

2
Draft David Walker — which is associated with the Web site DraftWalker.com

Interestingly, a Whois search reveals that Kleinsmith is listed as the registrar of the DraftWalker.com URL.

Yesterday morning, DraftWalker.com was nothing more than a splash page, with this logo

Screenshot of DraftWalker.org, 19 April 2012 a.m.

and this sign-up form.

Screenshot of DraftWalker.org, 19 April 2012 a.m. (click to enlarge)

I noticed that this page was "Paid for by the Committee to Get Walker Running," and that the contact email was [email protected]

This group seemed to have set up a YouTube channel on Tuesday, and posted its first two videos yesterday (albeit with no credit to "the Committee to Get Walker Running.")

And, by early yesterday afternoon, there was a full-blown Web site — for how long had this been queued up? — listing the committee co-chairs as Yoni Gruskin and Ryan Schoenike.

A news item on the site even goes so far as to characterize the Washington Post report — including
your comments? — as a "preview" of the committee's efforts.

The committee still has the same name. And although the telephone number — 202-670-6365 — did, when I tried it, direct to a message from "the Committee to Get Walker Running," I couldn't help but notice the new contact email: [email protected]

Screenshot of DraftWalker.org, 19 April 2012 p.m. (click to enlarge)

So, is this "the Independent Draft Committee" — and
is Yoni Gruskin, Ryan Schoenike or Solomon Kleinsmith the former Americans Elect staffer — you're talking about? Or is this the committee — but the former staffer is behind the scenes and unnamed? (On LinkedIn, only Kleinsmith, of the three, cites any formal connection
to Americans Elect — but he lists himself only as a "Delegate Leader" of Americans Elect, and these are unpaid, i.e., free-labor, volunteer positions.)

Or...

Is there altogether some other committee that a former employee of Americans Elect "stepped down to lead"?

::   ::   ::

Oh, and, while you're here — sorry, I know I promised to ask just a couple of questions, but I do have one more...

You were careful to point out, in the statement that you released on Tuesday morning, that you are "focused on [your] many responsibilities, including serving as...a national co-founder of No Labels" (video at 0:02).

So why are you now scrubbed from the No Labels leader list?

 

Postscript: Jim Cook — whose tenacious and indispensable new analysis went up a couple of
hours before this more generally scoped piece — drills beneath many of the surfaces I scratch here and comes up with much new information. Ultimately, though, David Walker needs to answer all of these questions himself.