I’m not sure that the 2012 arguments hold water for 2016. Yes, the GOP has lost Ohio and Florida twice now, and that’s a problem. But a few things to take into account:
-In both 2008 and 2012, the GOP fielded a weak, “my turn” candidate in an adverse political climate. Neither of those things are likely to be true in 2016.
-in 2012, Obama saturated Ohio with almost $100 million (IIRC) worth of anti-Romney efforts before Romney even got the official nomination. Add to that the billions of dollars Ohio got as part of Obama’s Big Three Bailout, and you have a toxic quagmire for Romney to campaign in that he still came pretty close to winning.
-If Kasich is as well-support in Ohio as he seems to be, he could help deliver the state even if he wasn’t on the ticket. Sure, being on the ticket is going to have the biggest draw for the home crowd. But a popular sitting governor ought to be able to drum up some crucial votes for his party’s nominee, too.
But a popular sitting governor ought to be able to drum up some crucial votes for his party’s nominee, too.
what you say may in fact be true; but (and I’m just speaaking for myself here) I cannot stand John Kasich...and that is something I can’t stess strongly enough...
there are some politicians that just get under my skin and stay there, burrowing like some blood gorged tick, swelling to five times its normal size as it feeds on my political essence...Kasich, with his propensity to weep in public (must be something in the Ohio water) and his voluble support for the most damaging of hedonistic behaviors, just because it is the law of land, will drive me to electoral sillyland, and make me waste my vote on some non-entity...and that makes me mad.
In a technical sense, I defer to the author’s premise that the Blue Wall could be defeated by this ticket...but if it must happen, can’t we at least relegate the odious Kasich to second place...? You might at least save my vote...