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| John Kasich becomes 16th Republican to announce presidential bid | John Kasich becomes 16th Republican to announce presidential bid |
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| Governor John Kasich of Ohio has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for president. | Governor John Kasich of Ohio has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for president. |
| Kasich, 63, became the 16th Republican to announce a run for the White House on Tuesday, in an event on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus. | Kasich, 63, became the 16th Republican to announce a run for the White House on Tuesday, in an event on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus. |
| A fiscal conservative with a record of supporting programs for the poor, Kasich will compete with rivals like former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey governor Chris Christie to woo establishment Republicans. | A fiscal conservative with a record of supporting programs for the poor, Kasich will compete with rivals like former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey governor Chris Christie to woo establishment Republicans. |
| Kasich, first elected in 2010, will try to position himself as a moderate, independent voice in the GOP field. In particular, his campaign will emphasize doing well in New Hampshire, a state where Republicans have long been skeptical of social conservatives. With an endorsement from former New Hampshire senator John Sununu in the bag, Kasich will travel to the first-in-the-nation primary state immediately following his announcement. A nonprofit supporting his campaign has already spent $1.7m on advertisements in New Hampshire. | |
| Related: John Kasich: does the 16th Republican presidential candidate stand a chance? | Related: John Kasich: does the 16th Republican presidential candidate stand a chance? |
| The famously abrasive Kasich is already taking steps to model his campaign after John McCain’s ultimately unsuccessful 2000 effort to win the GOP nomination. In that campaign, McCain crisscrossed New Hampshire in a bus called the Straight Talk Express before winning that state’s primary in an upset over George W Bush. Kasich has hired two of McCain’s then top aides: John Weaver, to serve as his campaign’s chief strategist, and ad maker Fred Davis, to helm his Super Pac. | |
| As a congressman for Ohio for nearly two decades from 1982 to 2000, Kasich made his name slashing federal spending – which was at odds with the Clinton administration – but also in helping to engineer a balanced budget with Democrats. As governor of Ohio, he embraced Barack Obama’s expansion of Medicaid under the president’s signature healthcare act, a decision that was lambasted by Kasich’s fellow Republicans. | As a congressman for Ohio for nearly two decades from 1982 to 2000, Kasich made his name slashing federal spending – which was at odds with the Clinton administration – but also in helping to engineer a balanced budget with Democrats. As governor of Ohio, he embraced Barack Obama’s expansion of Medicaid under the president’s signature healthcare act, a decision that was lambasted by Kasich’s fellow Republicans. |
| Kasich has since qualified his apparent acceptance of the president’s signature domestic policy: “Let me make my position simple. Repeal Obamacare.” | Kasich has since qualified his apparent acceptance of the president’s signature domestic policy: “Let me make my position simple. Repeal Obamacare.” |
| In the primary race, Kasich’s support for many social welfare programs may undercut his appeal among Tea Party Republicans. As governor, he has criticized his party’s sweeping denunciations of social welfare programs, instead arguing for targeted cuts. The Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank, ranked him among the worst governors in the nation on his record of cutting taxes and spending, rating eight Democrats higher. | In the primary race, Kasich’s support for many social welfare programs may undercut his appeal among Tea Party Republicans. As governor, he has criticized his party’s sweeping denunciations of social welfare programs, instead arguing for targeted cuts. The Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank, ranked him among the worst governors in the nation on his record of cutting taxes and spending, rating eight Democrats higher. |
| Related: US presidential candidates: who's running in 2016? | Related: US presidential candidates: who's running in 2016? |
| Kasich may also suffer among Republican voters for his many mild heresies on social issues. Although Kasich opposes same-sex marriage, he told CBS News “it’s time to move on” after the supreme court’s landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage in June. He has since attended a gay wedding. | |
| Further, in 1994, the then congressman was one of 46 Republicans who helped narrowly pass a federal ban on assault rifles, but he has since disavowed the ban as “not effective”. | Further, in 1994, the then congressman was one of 46 Republicans who helped narrowly pass a federal ban on assault rifles, but he has since disavowed the ban as “not effective”. |
| Kasich has also emphasized his blue-collar upbringing as a mailman’s son in the town of McKees Rocks, just outside Pittsburgh. However, that image as a man of the people may be undermined by his seven years as a managing director of Lehman Brothers, the financial firm whose 2008 bankruptcy tipped the US economy into its worst crisis since the Great Depression. Kasich made nearly $600,000 from the company even during the death throes of its final year, tax returns show. | Kasich has also emphasized his blue-collar upbringing as a mailman’s son in the town of McKees Rocks, just outside Pittsburgh. However, that image as a man of the people may be undermined by his seven years as a managing director of Lehman Brothers, the financial firm whose 2008 bankruptcy tipped the US economy into its worst crisis since the Great Depression. Kasich made nearly $600,000 from the company even during the death throes of its final year, tax returns show. |
| In April, Kasich tried to distance himself from Wall Street, saying although the financial system is necessary, “there’s too much greed”. | In April, Kasich tried to distance himself from Wall Street, saying although the financial system is necessary, “there’s too much greed”. |
| “If all you seek is money without values, then you’re bankrupt,” Kasich said. “What I think is that our banking community needs to realize there’s a moral underpinning.” | “If all you seek is money without values, then you’re bankrupt,” Kasich said. “What I think is that our banking community needs to realize there’s a moral underpinning.” |
| Ohio is critical to the general election, having been won by Obama twice – and by every other successful presidential candidate since 1968. Kasich handily won the state in the two most recent gubernatorial races, but an advantage in a national election is no guarantee in the primaries, and the governor faces an uphill challenge to win the significantly more conservative electorate of a Republican presidential primary. | Ohio is critical to the general election, having been won by Obama twice – and by every other successful presidential candidate since 1968. Kasich handily won the state in the two most recent gubernatorial races, but an advantage in a national election is no guarantee in the primaries, and the governor faces an uphill challenge to win the significantly more conservative electorate of a Republican presidential primary. |