With Presidental Ambitions, Wisconsin Governor Ramps Up Staff

As his potential presidential campaign builds momentum, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is hiring dozens of staff across the country and zipping between events on private planes, signs of the dead certainty of his bid and the still undisclosed sums that he's drawing from national donors. Walker now has at least two dozen staffers or consultants associated with his gubernatorial election committee and Our American Revival, the political garage where the Republican governor has parked his White House campaign in waiting.

Reports by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, national news outlets and social media show the governor is amassing a team of strategists, pollsters, fundraisers and policy staff from Madison and Washington, D.C., to Des Moines, Iowa, and Manchester, N.H.

As Walker has leaped with unexpected speed to near front-runner status in the shadow race for president, his challenges have multiplied.

Walker is now weighing in on events around the country and globe, responding to national media and taking trips out of state and even abroad, all with advice from a political team that in October was focused on Green Bay and Milwaukee, not South Carolina and Syria. His political operation must help Walker decide where to go to church on his visits to Iowa and what reaction to give President Barack Obama's immigration policy.

The buildup of his team comes as Walker continues to wow conservative audiences and draw sustained national media attention.