He talked about his time at Ohio State, living with 15 other roommates – now he’s running against 15 other Republicans for the presidential nomination. On top of that, the media mostly like him, something that never hurts in a presidential race – especially when no one knows who you are. “We’ll see what happens there”, said Barber. However, he also acknowledged that he could use all the help he can get. “We are going to take the lessons of the heartland and straighten out D.C. and fix our country”.
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His 45-minute address was light on details and long on principle.
Kasich boasted of his experience on the state and federal level.
Among those values, the governor said, is compassion.
He said he has good experience for the job.
But Kasich laid out a case for a compassionate conservatism that would help drug addicts, the working poor and the disabled, as well as keep the mentally ill out of prison.
“Personal responsibility needs to be restored in this country”, he said”.
However, his late entry to the race into a crowded GOP field means Kasich will have to work hard to rise in the polls. He closed an $8 billion state budget shortfall, reducing spending and cutting taxes by $800 million in the state. As the Ohio governor made his pitch, Trump garnered a large crowd in South Carolina, where he made news by insulting Sen. He spent almost 20 years in the US House of Representatives, winning a reputation as a national security and fiscal hawk who pushed for a balanced-budget amendment. “And we do not have the right, as grown-ups to ring up debts to suit ourselves and pass them on to the next generation”.
Kasich is popular in Ohio. The union-busting legislation he signed in Ohio was even more aggressive than the Wisconsin bill that forms the cornerstone of Scott Walker’s campaign. A Quinnipiac University poll in June gave him a 54 percent job approval rating here.
Conservatives have criticized Kasich for taking federal money for an expansion of Medicaid in Ohio under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. He told reporters in 2013, “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. On the other hand when you look at the shape the county is in, someone as radical as Donald Trump would probably make his mark on history”, Chairman of the Scioto County Commissioners Mike Crabtree said. She said it could also damage his campaign fundraising.
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However, as the National Journal’s Shane Goldmacher wrote, “Kasich shares far more than Huntsman’s willingness to scold fellow Republicans”. But, those might be the reasons why the Ohio Governor thinks he should be the next President of the United States!
