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Traditional GOP candidates try to adapt as ranks thin

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2015 file photo, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announces in Madison, Wis. that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. Walker and Rick Perry entered the 2016 presidential race with a combined 18 years of experience as governors. They exited the Republican primary, the first candidates to do so, with negligible support from voters and dwindling bank accounts. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2015 file photo, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announces in Madison, Wis. that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. Walker and Rick Perry entered the 2016 presidential race with a combined 18 years of experience as governors. They exited the Republican primary, the first candidates to do so, with negligible support from voters and dwindling bank accounts. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2015 file photo, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announces in Madison, Wis. that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. Walker and Rick Perry entered the 2016 presidential race with a combined 18 years of experience as governors. They exited the Republican primary, the first candidates to do so, with negligible support from voters and dwindling bank accounts. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

By Associated Press 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Scott Walker and Rick Perry entered the 2016 presidential race with a combined 18 years of experience as governors. They exited the Republican primary- the first candidates to do so – with negligible support and dwindling bank accounts.

While Walker and Perry were both flawed candidates, their swift demise is a warning to others who hope to win the White House on the strength of their political resumes. And it leaves the governors and senators still in the turbulent Republican race scrambling to adapt to a political environment that is rewarding those with the least governing experience.

“The country is very unhappy now, and a winning candidate must be viewed as a change agent,” said Scott Reed, a longtime Republican strategist who advises the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

So far, billionaire Donald Trump has been the biggest beneficiary of the public’s demand for an outsider. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina are also attracting voters eager to express their anger with Washington. None of the three has ever won an election.

Republicans voters’ apparent desire for a political novice is striking given that conservatives have long attributed some of what they see as President Barack Obama’s weaknesses to his inexperience when he took office. Obama spent a little less than eight years as an Illinois state senator and ran for president during his first term in the U.S. Senate.