(CNN)Last summer, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell was nervous about Herschel Walker, seeing stories about the rookie candidate's turbulent past and fearful that an unvetted and untested Republican could implode in the heat of the biggest Senate race in the country.
But not long after he suggested to allies that former Georgia Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler should consider running, McConnell heard a different story -- from Walker himself. Over the course of multiple conversations, Walker and McConnell talked about the campaign, the candidate's life story and the GOP leader's view of running in a race like this, according to people familiar with the calls.
"I think this guy is the real deal," McConnell said to Sen. Lindsey Graham last fall, according to the South Carolina Republican, who had been lobbying the GOP leader to get behind Walker, a football legend with the support of former President Donald Trump.
Since then, Walker has had a cakewalk of a primary, skipping a handful of debates or forums, avoiding getting pinned down on policy positions and mostly limiting press appearances to the safe spaces of conservative media. In mid-May, a Fox News poll showed Walker with 66% support from Georgia Republican primary voters -- unchanged since March.
But after his expected blowout victory in Tuesday's primary, the scrutiny is only bound to intensify. Democrats are privately planning an aggressive campaign spotlighting Walker's vulnerabilities, business record, policy...
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