Conservative columnist devastates Walker

It could have been worse, as Walker's ridiculous comparison of nuclear inspectors in Iran to parents wondering what the kids are doing behind closed bedroom doors didn't make it into Jennifer Rubin's Washington Post broadside against Walker, his record and his personality:

The Post reports, “Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed legislation Wednesday to spend $250 million from taxpayers on a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team — a deal he has championed for months despite fierce opposition from fiscal conservatives who usually agree with him.” 

This may be another strike against him for fiscal purists already rattled by his flip-flop on immigration and stance on ethanol.  In and of itself this does not seem like a very big deal. But looking back over the last few months it is emblematic of a candidate who started fast, tried to capture the right wing of the party and then got swamped by a parade of more personable contenders...It was no surprise then that his post-debate poll numbers are awful. Most alarming, for a candidate who has put his eggs in the Iowa basket, a new CNN poll shows him dropping to third place at 9 percent. 

And her critique gets worse:

Walker cannot afford to lose Iowa and yet that is precisely where he may be heading. 

And The Post also carries today an analysis that explains how Walker's cuts to higher education shifted more costs to students and their families.

Very revealing investigative reporting:

Walker has indeed held the line on tuition, but not for out-of-state, international or graduate students at many of the 26 schools that make up the University of Wisconsin system. Students enrolled in the state's 16 technical colleges have actually witnessed tuition go up an average 4.6 percent during his time in office. 

And while the governor put a cap on tuition for many Wisconsin residents, he supported hundreds of millions of dollars in spending cuts for public universities that shifted more of the cost onto families, leading many to take out loans to cover costs. 

Wisconsin students are now on the hook for nearly half of their college expenses, compared to 40 percent when Walker took office, according to data from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).