Posted on 03/23/2016 1:18:38 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
If you like John Kasich, it's time to celebrate! The Ohio governor finally won a primary – his home state’s. Of course, he flopped in last week's other contests, ending the evening with almost two dozen fewer delegates than Sen. Marco Rubio, who exited the GOP race.
Kasich’s campaign has bordered on the bizarre. He has survived for two reasons: First, he has refused to get out, no matter how badly he has done. And second, he has been so irrelevant that nobody attacked him, leaving him generally unscathed in a race where there is plenty of blood on the floor.
Initially, Kasich’s candidacy was built on doing well in New Hampshire. And he did – if you call drawing 15.8 percent of the vote there “doing well.” But in finishing second, almost 20 points behind the winner, Donald Trump, Kasich could claim relevance – even though he would not win his first primary for another five weeks.
Let’s be clear: John Kasich cannot win enough delegates during the primary process to be a factor in the race for the GOP nomination. He hopes that a deadlocked convention will turn to him as someone who could beat Hillary Clinton and save the party from having to nominate either Donald Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, neither of whom is beloved by party loyalists.
When the primary process ends on June 7, the Ohio Republican will have only a relative handful of delegates, and Cruz will be the main alternative to Trump, assuming the reality TV host falls short of the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination.
Given Kasich’s logic, Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul all should have stayed in the race, since each of them had at least one delegate. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might as well return to the race, since he is still undefeated.
Kasich’s decision to stay in a race in which he has so far failed to make a mark outside his home state led National Review editor Rich Lowry to say Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that “Kasich is playing a selfish and delusional role.”
Rubio was pretty clear about his views, as well. After his Florida defeat, he traveled to Minnesota to thank his supporters, urging them to support Cruz, since he is “the only conservative left in the race.”
Kasich’s campaign has been dogged by the ultimate contradiction this year: He has insisted he is challenging the establishment and running as an outsider. And yet, Kasich’s support has come primarily from Republican pragmatists who like his relatively moderate positioning or see him as the most electable.
In Ohio, Kasich campaigned with Romney, who urged state voters to cast their ballots for the governor as part of a stop-Trump strategy. Certainly that indicated Kasich was the choice of the GOP establishment, didn’t it?
Of course not, says Kasich, who often refers to his service in the House but insists that the establishment fears him.
Just don’t look behind the curtain, because if you do, you will see that Kasich’s supporters and advisers include party establishment types like consultant Charlie Black, former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, long-time party strategist Stu Spencer, former Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu and New Hampshire veteran GOP operative Tom Rath.
There is nothing wrong with that team, except that it was the establishment before anyone was complaining about “the establishment.”
Conservatives really don’t trust Kasich. He expanded Medicaid in the state while most Republican governors refused to do so, and he botched an effort to squeeze public sector unions, as Walker did in the Badger State. And, of course, Kasich still has his long list of endorsements and kind words from liberal editorial writers and opinion columnists, who have long seen him as the only reasonable Republican in the GOP race. (In Congress, Kasich voted for an assault weapons ban).
Kasich talks repeatedly about his successes as governor, including his overwhelming re-election. And it’s true, he was re-elected easily. Of course, that’s what happens when your Democratic opponent is caught in a car in a parking lot at 4:30 a.m. with a woman who is not his wife. And it didn’t hurt Kasich that his opponent’s party essentially disowned its nominee, thereby allowing the governor to run for re-election against a political cadaver.
The Ohio governor is running a “positive” campaign. He wants to bring America together again. Well, that’s a novel idea. I hadn’t heard that before. Of course, Kasich’s strategy caused him to avoid taking on Trump, leaving the dirty work to other GOP candidates with more courage. Only now, very late in the game, has the Ohio hopeful been explicitly critical of Trump.
Whatever you think of Kasich, his strategy has worked, at least to a degree. He is one of only three Republicans still in the race. Now, if he could only win a race here and there, he might even justify his continued candidacy.
There’s your running mate for Hillary.
No kidding.
Is Kasich’s old pal Tom “Puff” Daschle still around? They made a cute couple.
Stealing from American peter to pay fro Ohioan Paul, well when it comes to medicare/obamacare....
There’s nothing remarkable or unusual about his campaign.
He stands above the fray while Cruz and Trump savage each other out of competition.
The establishment has this race well under their control now.
Lots of ‘big shots’ in politics go off the rails. They can’t stand the combination of adulation and intense pressure.
Did Kasich start out at the Kid Debates? If so, he has done very well indeed.
If he stays in until CA, maybe his old best friend Condit can vote for him. Since he was never convicted of the felony of MURDER. Yet. There is no statute of limitations. And I’m sure Kasich didn’t have any pertinent info. Especially since right after the murder, he dashed out of DC and got married and had twins right quick. So he must not have had any damaging info on his best friend. And he is a good Christian man. So he would never have hidden any evidence on his bestie. I’m sure he knows nothing about it or he would have surely told the police all of it. His father was a mailman so he knows the importance of honesty. And that killing your girlfriend, no matter how inconvenient, is a pretty bad thing.
Why are you posting an article that we all like?
U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich pumps his fists as he leaves the Red Arrow Diner during a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Mary Schwalm
"Only five other entities have contributed more to the Kasich-linked New Day for America Political Action Committee than Soros Fund Management....."
No one is ever going to bring America back together again. The primacy of diversity and multiculturalism over the past three decades has made it so that America will never be anything but a chaotic rabble that will never agree on basic governing principles or structures. There must be some basic agreed upon concept or connection of heritage that binds a people into a nation. That is well destroyed in America now.
John “I need a high dose of Haldol” Kasich says he is going to win it all, and he is the only one that can beat Hillary. Don’t you stupid people who voted (or will vote) for someone else realize that? Need a hug now? Kasich will scream at you for being stupid while giving you a hug. He’s good that way.
[No one is ever going to bring America back together again.]
2 Chronicles 7:14
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
He’s a Uniparty drone.
Kasich would be much more at home on a Democrap ticket - no doubt. I cannot figure this guy out, other than he reminds me a bit of Bloomberg. He is a giant, not big, government freewheeling guy that still shows up to the Republican cocktail parties for some reason and is adamant that he deserves a ticket to the big dance?!?!? Strange moron, indeed.
If Soros can't steal the Republican Presidential nomination and co opt it's Kaisch as it's candidate, he will accept the consolation prize of doing as much damage to the Republican Party as possible in the process of trying to hijack the Republican Presidential nomination.
The same interests that have taken over and completely co opted the Democrat party are now moving in to do a hostile takeover of the Republican Party with a little help from their new friends in the Republican establishment
For a "reality TV host" he sure owns a lot of nice properties.
Wow, that’s a blast from the past. It seems like a million years ago, but not to the family of Chandra Levy, who was murdered by an illegal alien according to his jail mate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
