Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at a news conference on Sept. 21, 2015, in Madison, Wis., where he announced that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign.(Photo: Morry Gash, AP)

WASHINGTON — You know the conventional wisdom that governors are the ones who tend to fare best as presidential candidates?

Not so for Scott Walker and Rick Perry.

In a record-sized Republican field, the first two contenders to call it quits are, surprisingly, Wisconsin Gov. Walker — the first governor in history to survive a recall election, and one with swing-state credentials — and former Texas governor Perry, the longest-serving chief executive in Lone Star history.

Leading the GOP field in the new CNN/ORC Poll are celebrity billionaire Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former CEO Carly Fiorina — three outsiders who among them have never won an election.

Here's what the political analysts say this means, although given our track record this year, you might want to take it with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, the 2016 Republican nominee is still likely to be someone who actually has held office before. That makes the narrowing of the field good news for former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

It demonstrates that money isn't everything, although the fact that Walker and Perry were having trouble raising money was a factor in their decisions. Carson and Fiorina haven't been seen as particularly big fundraisers, something we'll know for sure after the next Federal Election Commission reports are due next month. Their rising standings are likely to make it easier to feed their campaign coffers.

And it underscores the power of the debates. Strong performances by Fiorina have been the single biggest factor propelling her from the undercard event at the first debate to Trump's top challenger after the second one.

Walker never managed to break into the main conversation in either debate. He gained political fame nationwide by taking on the public-employee unions in Wisconsin, and his poll ratings soared after a strong early speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January. But he didn't seem sure-footed in addressing national-security questions, and he faced questions about consistency when he changed position on issues such as birthright citizenship.

In Madison, Wis., on Monday, he said he was suspending his campaign and encouraged his former rivals to do the same "so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner." That presumably was a reference to Trump, although Walker didn't mention him by name.

The next GOP debate, hosted by CNBC, is scheduled to take place at the University of Colorado Boulder in five weeks. The Democratic field may be about to get bigger, with the possible addition of Vice President Biden. But the Republican field just got smaller, and not because any of the outsiders decided to call it a day.

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