SCOTT WALKER IS NOW THE GOP FRONT-RUNNER

Maybe it won't last, but he's not just leading in Iowa -- Walkermania is spreading:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) holds a big lead among New Hampshire Republicans in the early primary state, drawing 21 percent support among likely voters in a poll by news network NH1 released Wednesday.

The governor is the biggest beneficiary of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s decision to sit out 2016. Two weeks ago, when Romney was flirting with a bid, Walker won 8 percent of the vote. Romney led that poll with 29 percent.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is second, with 14 percent, followed by Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, each at 8 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee follow, at 6 percent, with Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 5 percent....

More on that poll here.

And, as The Washington Post's Aaron Blake notes, there's more:

... another automated poll in North Carolina from Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling showed Walker tied with Bush and Ben Carson for the lead at 14 percent, with Mike Huckabee at 13 percent. North Carolina could be one of the first states t0 vote, shortly after South Carolina.

Blake adds:

Oh, and there was that whole Drudge Report poll which, while not scientific in the least, certainly isn't a bad thing for Walker. He took 44 percent, after all.

Drudge isn't the only one running an unscientific but Walker-friendly online poll of right-wingers. There's also this, from the Daily Caller:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the current favorite of Republicans for 2016, according to a unique form of online polling conducted in partnership with The Daily Caller that gauges conservative interest for potential GOP presidential candidates.

The survey -- operated by the organization Contract From America -- asks users to pick favorite candidates in multiple head-to-head match-ups. It’s not scientific, but does indicate which candidates are popular with conservatives.

“By doing so, we elicit the deeper preferences of users well beyond their top choice, which prevents the kind of ‘gaming’ that is often seen in other online polls,” said Ryan Hecker of Contract From America, which runs the poll.

For example, a user may be asked to choose between Scott Walker and Ted Cruz. After that, the user may be asked to choose between Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. That process continues on and on with a variety of potential presidential candidates.

With 935,119 total votes, here are the latest results, as of Wednesday:

1. Scott Walker 80% 2. Ted Cruz 77% 3. Ben Carson 69% 4. Rick Perry 67% 5. Bobby Jindal 62% 6. Marco Rubio 57% 7. Rand Paul 56% 8. Mike Pence 50% 9. Mike Huckabee 47% 10. Mitt Romney 45% 11. Susana Martinez 42% 12. Rick Santorum 41% 13. Rob Portman 35% 14. Donald Trump 31% 15. Jeb Bush 22% 16. Chris Christie 19%

Ryan Hecker, a Houston teabagger, was named chief operating officer of FreedomWorks for America in 2011. FredomWorks has hitorically deep ties to the Koch brothers, of course, although the Kochs now say they have nothing to do with it. Ryan Hecker developed the Contract from America (from which hisorganiation takes its name) in 2009 and 2010 with the help of Dick Armey from FreedomWorks.

Does an online poll from Matt Drudge seem a little hinky to you? Or one from FreedomWorks and the Daily Caller? Yeah, me too. But there's a lot of effort going into the process of making Walker seem like the people's choice. And -- for now, at least -- it seems to be working.