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Kinder, gentler John Kasich fails to stand out in the heated contest for GOP nomination for president
On the side
The Mahoning County Republican Party is having a “Wine Fest 2015” fundraiser from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Youngstown Shrine Club, 1735 W. South Range Road in North Lima.
Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, is the special guest.
Tickets are $50 per person. To make reservations, call party headquarters at 330-629-7006 or email county Chairman Mark Munroe at mark@compcoind.com. Monday is the deadline for reservations.
Those attending are asked to bring a bottle or two of wine to share or auction. There also will be food and live music.
The proceeds from the event go directly to the local party and its candidates.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Cincinnati-area Republican running next year for re-election, has launched “Students for Portman” with coordinators at more than 20 colleges and universities in the state.
Taylor Christian is the coordinator for Portman at Youngstown State University. A 2014 South Range High School graduate, Christian is also running in the November general election for a seat on that district’s school board.
Remember all of those national media stories about Ohio Gov. John Kasich being too much of a jerk and too cranky to be president?
On July 21, the day the governor announced he would seek the Republican nomination for president, Reason.com ran an opinion article titled “The Unbearable Smugness of John Kasich.” It referenced other articles about Kasich’s “hair-trigger temper,” “his short fuse” and his “anger management problems.” Newsweek later put that article on its website.
Yet what record television audiences saw on CNN two days ago and on Fox News on Aug. 6 was Kasich refusing to engage in criticizing any of the other 10 Republican candidates, even for legitimate reasons, and attempting to be a unifier when no one else on the stage – or in the audience – had any interest in that.
The result? Kasich got lost in the crowd, spending about 30 minutes on three different occasions not saying a word during the way-too-long three-hour debate.
It’s easy to get lost with 11 candidates on the stage and those asking questions focusing a lot of attention on billionaire and frontrunner Donald Trump.
Good points
When Kasich spoke, he made some good points, repeated what he’s said for years about his political record, and apparently bored the moderators because they paid little attention to him.
This was a debate in which candidates were invited to interrupt and state their opinions.
One time when Kasich tried, he was shut down by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who thrives in that style of debate.
If the “jerk” side of Kasich needed to emerge, it was during that debate.
He didn’t need to say anything obnoxious, but Kasich was passive in an aggressive environment.
Early in the debate, Kasich said, “If I were sitting at home watching this back and forth, I’d be inclined to turn it off.”
Based on the ratings, people didn’t agree with him.
Kasich touted his experience in Congress and as Ohio governor saying: “I’m the only one here to do it in both places.”
But the polls show Republican voters currently don’t want a political insider like Kasich. Trump is No. 1 in polls with retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson in second place. Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, is rising in the polls, and should do even better after the CNN debate in which she clearly won.
Kasich is a respectable second or third in polls among Republicans in New Hampshire, where he is heavily focusing his campaign.
However, national polls, according to Real Clear Politics, show Kasich in 10th place among Republican presidential candidates with 2.5 percent support. That’s about where he’s been since he announced his candidacy nearly two months ago.
If Kasich wants to attract national attention, the Fox and CNN debates were perfect forums for him.
The TV audiences for the debates were incredibly large, primarily to see what Trump would say. While Trump fizzled out toward the end of the lengthy debate, he didn’t disappoint early on.
Instead, both debates were missed opportunities for Kasich.
He received some complimentary comments from political pundits and reporters, but most of the praise went to Fiorina and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Established candidate
If we are to believe that Trump and Carson are going to drop in the polls, and that Fiorina isn’t a legitimate challenger – and I’m not convinced that’s all going to happen – Republicans will look for an established candidate to be the party’s presidential nominee.
The initial thought, and one that some still have, is that ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will be that candidate.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was supposed to be the guy to challenge Bush. But like Bush, his poll numbers are sinking.
Rubio could be the guy; so could Kasich.
Kasich hasn’t done enough so far for Republicans to consider him to be among the party’s top presidential candidates despite his credentials. Also, not one of the 10 other Republican candidates paid any attention to him, meaning they don’t see him as a threat – at least, not yet.