Well, I’m finally beginning to feel a little less lonely in my “this election isn’t necessarily a simple referendum on the incumbent” stance. This morning I noted that conservative analyst Sean Trende of RCP–actually a “referendum” proponent–suggested it was a two-phase process where Mitt Romney does have to establish his own credibility (and was struggling to do so). And now here’s an unlikely witness, Gov. Scott Walker, on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

I think the mistake that they’ve made is the feeling like it can just be a referendum on the president,” said Walker on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s certainly a part of it for any incumbent; it’s got to be a referendum on, do you like or dislike, not just the president, but his policies … but there’s got to be something more. People don’t just vote somebody out; they’ve got to vote somebody in.”

Hell yes! Let’s get us a political scientist or two, and it’s a party!

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Ed Kilgore, a contributing editor of the Washington Monthly, is a columnist for New York.