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Need evidence there's no clear path to the Republican presidential nomination? Consider the competing messages some likely candidates delivered on Sunday's talk shows.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, relatively inexperienced on foreign policy, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a veteran on the issue, appeared open to sending U.S. ground forces take on Islamic State militants. At the same time, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was trying to win voters by likening being gay to using alcohol or profanity.

Each approach could ultimately prove successful; both highlight the challenge for the crowded field of potential contenders to stitch together a winning coalition of national security hawks, evangelicals, social conservatives, business leaders and moderates who make up the modern Republican Party.

As the 2016 campaign is beginning to gel, each prospective candidate is testing appeals to voters and, perhaps more important at this early stage, donors. No one has taken the formal step of becoming a candidate, yet all are trying to hone a message.

Take Walker, who has garnered increased interest among the party's conservatives. He delivered a well-received speech to Iowa conservatives last weekend.

The Iowa Poll, conducted last week for The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics, showed Walker atop the list of potential candidates but statistically even with Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney when likely caucus goers were asked their top choice for president. The poll was taken before Romney announced he was not running.

That only has increased the unsettled nature of the campaign.

Walker spent his weekend in Washington, wooing party leaders and recruiting aides to a likely campaign. In remarks on Friday and then again on Sunday Walker was seeking to cast himself as more than just a Midwestern governor who rolled back unions' bargaining rights.

"We need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorist in and around the world," Walker said Sunday.

Pushed on how he would combat the Islamic State militants, Walker could only say, "We have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that's what it takes."

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Foreign Affairs, Culture Wars Split GOP Focus Ahead of 2016