Kasich is considered a moderate Pub by today’s standards – at any rate he’s one of the few Republican govs to accept Obamacare funding to expand his state’s Medicaid. OTOH, his abortion record –
Not much else about him appears to be very interesting/controversial. He has a solid public-service resume and he could be an acceptable candidate, though he won’t fire up the base much.
I’m an Ohioan, and not at all a Kasich fan. He’s erratic and impulsive. He did his Walkeresque best to dismantle public employee unions, which the voters overwhelmingly reversed in a public referendum. His budget cuts were devastating to local governments, libraries and higher education. His public educational policy is crappy. He purposefully removed Ohio Job and Family Services, a huge state agency, from proper oversight and auditing. He was childishly rude to his Democratic opponent in their only quasi-debate meeting of the entire campaign last year.
Medicaid expansion in the teeth of strong conservative opposition here is much to his credit, but it’s just about the only thing I can think to praise him for.
Well, now we’ve got a bracket. Let’s pair them up and let the tourney begin.
Of the 16, I’d say about half are running for veep and most of the rest are delusional if they think they’ve got a chance. I’m not sure which group Kasich falls in, but I’m quite certain Bill Cosby has a better chance of becoming president of NOW.
Another Ohioan chiming in here. Kasich has decimated the public school system in the state. Granted, it was a school system that wasn’t in the greatest of shape before his governorship began but he has cut-cut-cut the pubic education system here so severely that it is in a tailspin. Naturally though he has funneled a whole lot of that money into the private “charter” schools which the overwhelming majority of them are religious schools.
I seriously dislike this guy and could not believe the Ohio Democratic Party put up such a lame-duck opponent in the last election.
On the positive side - he is slightly less douchey than Trump!
That definition of ‘serious’ kinda bothers me. Using the Fox News ‘last 5 major polls’ standard, Fiorina’s poll average is 0.8%, and Pataki’s is even worse: 0.2%. But they’re in the polls, so they’re serious. But former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore isn’t serious, because they’re not polling for him.
Now Gilmore is a sucky candidate, and isn’t likely to go anywhere regardless. But IMHO there needs to be a better reason to consider him ‘not serious’ and Pataki and Fiorina ‘serious’ than inclusion in, or exclusion from, major polls.
“Candidates featured in major polls” is the criterion Wikipedia is using, anyway – that is, it has a section so titled and there are now 16 candidates there; however, all candidates not so featured or not-yet-announced are also mentioned in other sections of the page.
I grew up Ohio with Family still there (who get there water from Lake Erie). I also spent a lot of time in Michigan surrounded by Great Lakes in Michigan. I’ve liked his work on Lake Erie protections from an outside perspective to include the veto of aproposed water bill a couple years back. I could see that being well received in some of the Great Lakes bordering states. Any thoughts on that piece of his record from inside the border?
Yeah, I’d like to see him get the nomination, too. Or more precisely, I’d like to see a world where he would get the nomination. When I look at Kasich, I see a man who’s trying to do the best he can for his constituents. I disagree with the way he’s doing it, and think that most of his efforts would fail… but he’s trying. And that’s a lot more than I can say for most of his party-mates.
We should be voting on who is going to do the most good for the nation, not on whether we should do good for the nation, and I find it baffling that we have a party dedicated to the proposition that government cannot do good.
I fear a guy like that getting the nomination. Because even if Kasich is neuro-typical, the GOP Congressional crazy tail wags the Republican dog. Moderates who don’t grasp this might end up voting for a guy like Kasich, the calm face of the nuthouse.
Luckily, my fears are misplaced: like the arch conservative but neurologically normal Jon Huntsman, Kasich isn’t going anywhere. I do wonder whether he will get his bump in the polls. If he never tops 15%, the answer is no.
I can see him making the top 10: in fact I predict this. A big ad buy could land him outside of the kiddie table in the upcoming debates. But can Kasich simulate crazy? I honestly don’t know enough about the guy to guess. Christie can. Bush will. Walker and Cruz won’t have to.
The preceding argument did not apply during the 1950s-1980s, and probably not during the 1990s.
Here’s a real endorsement: I, adaher, officially endorse John Kasich for President. I flirted with other candidates, but Kasich is now officially the guy I’ll be supporting until and unless he drops out.
