Then There Were 16: John Kasich to Enter GOP Fray

Wall Street Journal

By Colleen McCain Nelson

July 21, 2015

Then There Were 16: John Kasich to Enter GOP Fray 

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday will become the 16th—and perhaps final—major Republican candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race, rounding out the crowded field with his own brand of compassionate conservatism and blunt talk.

The two-term Republican governor’s bid will test whether a candidate who has bucked the right flank of his party on issues ranging from Medicaid expansion to immigration can gain traction in a primary.

Mr. Kasich, 63 years old, is counting on his mix of executive and Capitol Hill experience to catapult him to contender status. He’ll also tout his work on national security and budget issues during his tenure as a congressman from 1983 until 2001, as well as the economic turnaround in Ohio.

“He’s not scared to tell the base where they’re wrong,” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist who served as a leadership aide in Congress during Mr. Kasich’s tenure. “I don’t think the ideological base is in love with Kasich, but I think in many ways they admire him.”

Indeed, many components of Mr. Kasich’s record could appeal to GOP voters.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee in Congress, he balanced the federal budget. “It’s very hard to do,” Mr. Kasich asserts in a new video.

On his watch in Ohio, multibillion shortfalls have been replaced by a $2 billion surplus.

The former Lehman Brothers executive also “worked in the real world as a commentator on Fox [News],” his video notes.

While Mr. Kasich can claim budget bona fides, he is likely to face fire from fellow Republicans for a variety of views that have diverged from conservative orthodoxy.

As governor since 2011, Mr. Kasich bypassed the Republican-controlled Legislature and embraced the plank of the Affordable Care Act that expands Medicaid to provide health care to low-income adults. He also has backed the Common Core educational standards that are anathema to some Republicans.

While Mr. Kasich supported restricting the power of public employee unions in Ohio, he stood down after voters overturned his anti-collective-bargaining law. And he hasn’t ruled out a pathway to citizenship as part of an overhaul of immigration laws.

His is an empathetic take on conservatism, his advisers say. Mr. Kasich, the married father of twin daughters, views many issues through the prism of his Protestant faith, framing his mission to help “people who live in the shadows” as a moral imperative.

He has told those who question his Medicaid stance that “when you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor.”

Republicans who know Mr. Kasich well describe his approach to politics as high-risk and potentially high-reward. On the stump, his candid, off-the-cuff style lends him blue-collar credibility.

At Tuesday’s campaign launch in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Kasich is expected to stick to his less scripted approach, eschewing a teleprompter and speaking only from notes.

“He has a unique ability to connect with ordinary people,” said Rep. Pat Tiberi (R., Ohio), who worked for eight years as a Kasich aide on Capitol Hill. “When he’s on, there’s nobody better.”

While Mr. Kasich’s irreverence is part of his appeal, he sometimes is perceived as impatient and even impolitic, raising questions about his temperament and specifically his temper.

“John is much more likely to throw an interception than most of the more controlled, consultant-driven candidates,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who tapped Mr. Kasich to lead the House Budget Committee and who maintains that his close friend has calmed down since their days in Congress.

“He’s also a lot more likely to throw touchdowns. If it all comes together, he’ll be the nominee,” Mr. Gingrich added.

Polls show Mr. Kasich, who also launched a short-lived presidential bid in 1999, has work to do. In a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll last month, only 25% of Republican primary voters said they could see themselves supporting Mr. Kasich; 42% didn’t know his name.

Still, Mr. Kasich’s track record in Ohio, a key swing state that could prove essential to winning the White House, might make him an attractive prospect for the Republican ticket. He coasted to re-election last year, winning 64% of the vote and 86 of the state’s 88 counties.

Mr. Kasich is likely to share space on the Republican political spectrum with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a candidate who has more money, better name recognition and a head start on the campaign.

Mr. Kasich, on the other hand, doesn’t carry the burden of the Bush family name.

Messrs. Bush and Kasich are similar in “their philosophical perspectives and their ability to reach beyond the Republican base,” said Vin Weber, a former U.S. congressman from Minnesota and longtime Kasich friend who is supporting Mr. Bush’s presidential bid.

Mr. Bush has a more cerebral approach, while Mr. Kasich “has a tendency to wear his emotions on his sleeve,” Mr. Weber said. “That cuts both ways.”

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