Donald Trump's surge to the top of national polls may be giving heartburn to many Republicans, but it should be seen as welcome news to the presidential campaign of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Going into 2015, Walker was in a unique position in the Republican presidential race. His bruising battles against labor unions and the organized Left and his three victories in four years in the blue state of Wisconsin, on paper, made him an attractive candidate to many constituencies within the party.

But at the same time, these political fights meant that he had little time or reason to think deeply about domestic and foreign policy in a way that's typically expected of major presidential candidates. Most of his rivals didn't have to run for election in 2014, and thus have had more time to take briefings on issues outside their state. Even trickier, in the first half of 2015, Walker had to engage in tough budget negotiations back at home.

So, the initial strategy that made sense for Walker was to generally lay low in the early part of the year, try to float under the radar as much as possible while taking briefings on policy, slowly gather steam and formally announce late.

That strategy, however, had to go out the window after Walker gave a fiery speech before the Iowa Freedom Summit in January. Walker disproved skeptics who claimed he was too boring to make the leap to the national stage, and wowed the crowd. He catapulted to the top of polls and soon emerged as the frontrunner.

Suddenly, Walker was the focus of a lot more media attention, a lot sooner, than he had expected. The media scrutinized every stumble — real or imagined — and his limited background in foreign policy began to show.

Six months later, Walker is now an officially announced presidential candidate with a state budget agreement behind him, but Trump has now emerged as the prime focus of media attention.

To be clear, Trump's surge in national polls hasn't had any impact on Walker's overall position in the race. Back on May 29, when the RealClearPolitics average had Trump at 4.5 percent nationally, Walker was at 13 percent. Now that Trump is at 18.2 percent in the average, Walker is at 12 percent — or roughly the same place.

More importantly, Walker is maintaining a near double-digit lead in the important first state of Iowa.

Even though Trump's rise hasn't disrupted Walker's status as one of the frontrunners to take the nomination, it's offered him the opportunity to go about his campaigning without the level of scrutiny that he'd otherwise have were it not for Trump. At this point, Trump's hat will generate more media coverage than any policy pronouncement of Walker's.

This gives Walker more space to operate in a steady, low key fashion as he prepares for the first Republican debate on Aug. 6.

Walker should take full advantage of this period in the race — while he has the cover of the media's Trump obsession — to begin to flesh out a policy agenda.

Everybody knows that Walker took on the public sector unions in Wisconsin, and they've heard his basic criticisms of Obama's foreign policy.

But it is less clear, for instance, how he would reform the U.S. tax code, offer an alternative to Obamacare, rein in entitlements or, more specifically, handle international affairs.

Trump will not be the Republican nominee, so eventually, the media will turn its attention back to the candidates who actually stand a chance of challenging Hillary Clinton. And it will be crucial for any Republican nominee to be prepared to go toe-to-toe with Clinton on policy in the general election.

But in the meantime, Trump's rise has bought more time for Walker.