"As Ohio goes, so goes the nation" Bet that thread-title got your attention, what? Read the entire OP and you will understand why. I just watched Gov. John Kasich's (R-OH) victory speech this morning. Kasich won his home state of Ohio, currently by +11.1% (a landslide margin and somewhat better than the polling aggregates predicted) and bested Donald Trump in a big way. With 48.2% of Ohio Republicans having voted for their favorite son, Kasich's topline is one of the very best statistics of the Republican primary race thus far. And he scored big wins in the the counties with large population centers, counties that decide the winner in an Ohio November GE: Franklin (Columbus), Cuyahoga (Cleveland), Hamilton (Cincinnatti), Lucas (Toledo) and Summit (Akron) counties. The only county with a city of any halfway large size where Trump won (and this surprised me) was Mahoning County, with Youngstown as it's seat. It was a narrow Kasich win in Montgomery County (Dayton), which is an absolute bellwether county for this state in every GE. But in Stark County (Canton/Alliance) ,also a major bellwether, both Kasich and Clinton beat their nearest opponents with margins almost identical to their statewide margins. In Medina County, one of the richer counties in Ohio, a county where a candidate likes to go find some rich donors, Kasich did very well. Trump did well in the eastern and southern border counties to the rural areas of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, for instance, in "redneck" Columbiana County, where one High School still uses confederate symbols and has a rebel as a mascot. The problem for Trump is that these border counties, although geographically large, are very, very small in population. On the other hand, Kasich won most of the border counties to Indiana, which I find quite interesting. Ok, the speech itself was a bit disjointed, but it was also heartfelt and also very unscripted (which I like) and although I am a Democrat, I must say that many elements of his victory speech were just awesome. You can watch and hear the entire speech here: [video=youtube;Pbgu9S-U6aI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbgu9S-U6aI[/video] For my way of thinking, the best moment was when Kasich became considerably quieter and eloquated to a very quiet room about his life's philosophy of doing good deeds (starting at 08:44 in the video above), unannounced, for others, which is absolutely the core of the Jewish principle of TIKKUN OLAM, which essentially means to repair the world through good deeds, often unannounced and without expectations of ever getting a "thank you" back. Now, whether or not Kasich has a real shot at the Republican nomination, I just don't know. He may go into the history books in the same mold as fellow Ohioans Taft and Bricker, especially one-tune Bricker (see: 1950's), but at least Kasich is indeed not taking the low road, and for this, regardless whether I would ever vote for him or not, he has earned my respect. At the rate that the Trump rallies are literally destroying the GOP's chances of ever again making even the slightest inroads into the minority vote on every possible level, even were Kasich to somehow, per miracle, become the GOP nominee, I doubt that the general election electorate is going to forget the unbelievable, racist, zenophobic white-supremacist, anti-semitic shenanigans going on at these Trump rallies - and I am referring to MANY rallies, not just a couple - and would probably punish Kasich for it as well. So, those were my thoughts on Gov. Kasich, who pulled out a big win in the all-important state of Ohio last night. I would think that the justification for this thread in the elections subforum is quite obvious. Being an important event related to a critical election, this thread is most definitely in the right place and eminently justified, imo. -Stat Derideo_Te mertex Guno , etc: yes, I am still alive, just very busy right now. Hope everyone is well and prospering.
So far that is one in a row. Looks like Kasich is on a roll! Well, if you are going to spin it I thought I would help. It looks like Kasich is well on his way now....to what no one knows. What we do know is that he does a great impression of Eddie Haskel, has awesome fruit ninja skills and does not have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the nomination.
I also watched Gov Kasich's speech and I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments. If the GOP stands any chance at all in the GE Kasich is their only serious contender. The man is genuine and it comes across in spades. In that respect he reminds me of Bernie who appears to have spent his entire life practicing Tikkun Olam. With Rubotio now out of the way and the upcoming races in states where Kasich will stand a better chance of winning I can see the establishment GOP putting their money and muscle behind him. Yes, it does look like a Kasich/Rubotio ticket is still a possibility in the GE now but there is still a lot that can, and will, happen before we get there. Tr(oll)mp did win the low education voters and had the benefit of Dem crossovers in that demographic behind him. But Kasich too had Dem crossovers and they were clearly anti-Tr(oll)mp. So the extremist rightwinger meme about Tr(oll)mp pulling in crossover voters has been exposed as being only as far as white low education goes. Beyond that he has alienated everyone else. Hopefully the media will start giving Kasich the attention he deserves now and we can see some sanity returning. The contrast between the civilized Kasich rallies and the belligerent Tr(oll)mp hate-fests will be striking enough to show the American people on the right who is their only real hope in 2016.
Kasich won his home state and that's expected. Trying to elevate this to some game changing win for him absurd and delusional
Funnily,enough, I agree with everyone on this thread. Kasich is the only GOP candidate that impresses me (and not because I agree with his .politics -- I don't). He scares me in terms of the general, because he would have a good shot at winning. But I also think he has no real path to victory from here in the primary. I was running through scenarios in my head last night. Rubio clearly can't stand Trump, and I don't think he much likes Cruz, either. If he endorsed Kasich, that would give Kasich about as many delegates as Cruz. He could then make the case that HE is the real, electable alternative to Trump, and maybe win a delegate fight at the convention. But first he will have to do better than a distant third in some of the upcoming primaries -- and Its hard to see that happening.
No, that is not at all expected. It's been a long time since a candidate from Ohio won his home state in the primaries. Such ignorance can be cured by learning some cold, hard electoral facts. Good luck.
Actually the upcoming GOP primaries in April all favor Kasich (CT, PA, RI, MD, DE). Then there are still primaries in CA, OR, WA and NJ where he can do well. He also happens to be the best qualified GOP candidate and the one with the best chance of beating Hillary so going into the convention, where no one has a clear majority of votes, favors him on the 2nd ballot.
I'm sorry, but I'm not a bit impressed by Kasich. He boasts so much about himself but he's your typical wolf in sheep's clothing. He spews the same old tired mantra just like all the other conservative candidates. He's going to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal Obamacare, yada yada, and offers nothing except the fact that he made Ohio great when he was the governor there....well, it may not be quite the way he paints it, and he is just one notch above Cruz....who is still below zero as far as I'm concerned. Any of the conservatives winning means another 4 years of going backward and getting more biased right-wing extremists in the Supreme Court.....after that the Rapture would be a welcomed event. Ohio has indeed gained several hundred thousand jobs since Mr. Kasich took office, and he turned an imposing budget gap into a surplus while also cutting income taxes, all accomplishments that back up his boasts. But a closer review of his record shows the reality is more complicated. Other states recovered from the recession more quickly than Ohio did. He closed the budget shortfall in part by cutting aid to local governments, forcing some of them to raise their own taxes or cut services. And increasing sales taxes helped make the income tax cuts possible. Ohio was in intensive care, and Governor Kasich came in and really stabilized the patient, said Rea S. Hederman Jr., the executive vice president of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a right-leaning group. But were still a sick state, economically speaking. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/15/1501213/-John-Kasich-s-not-so-great-Ohio-recovery
I assume you live in OH, so you clearly know Kasich better than I do, but if the presidential race were to actually come down to a choice of the lesser of two evils...and that's where the safe money is at present...I would have a much tougher time deciding if Kasich were one of the candidates. I do sense that he's a well-functioning cog in the Republican machine. But there's no denying he comes off as both genuine and likable. Also, if we're to be honest, I think you have to admit that the takeaway to the passage in blue is the last two sentences. From the description prior to that, though, he seems like a good to excellent administrator who made some hard...but largely fair...calls in a time of crisis. (I'm not familiar with the state's economy, so I can't ding him on the rate of the recovery.) My personal political bent aside, I'm willing to acknowledge that, of all the candidates still in the race from both parties, he seems like the best choice simply in terms of his record and experience.
