NEWS

Kasich treads odd GOP presidential path

Chrissie Thompson, and Deirdre Shesgreen
Gannett

This story was originally published April 26.

WASHINGTON – As Gov. John Kasich toys with a presidential run, he is popping up in the oddest of places.

Last week, his itinerary included a speech to an insurance agents' trade association and remarks at an economic forum sponsored by The Atlantic magazine – a pair of events where no other White House hopeful could be found.

In February, Kasich missed one of the hottest stops on the Republican presidential circuit: the annual conference of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Washington. But the Ohio governor showed up in the nation's capital a few days later to attend Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial speech to Congress.

He wasn't in Iowa this weekend, where a slew of other Republican White House hopefuls will flock to the spring kickoff of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, a conservative advocacy group. Instead, Kasich will be enjoying some downtime in Washington before attending the White House Correspondents Dinner, a high-profile political-and-media schmooze-fest.

Kasich has, of course, made some trips to key early states, including a trek to New Hampshire this month where he competed for attention with the likes of Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida. This week, Kasich will join other Republican presidential hopefuls at a forum in Washington sponsored by the conservative National Review Institute.

And Kasich told reporters Thursday his travel schedule would become "more robust" in the coming weeks as he tests the presidential waters.

"I'm going to continue to travel, continue to tell people what's on my mind, (and) see if I can get the resources to go into the primaries," he said on Friday during a forum sponsored by the New America Foundation, a Washington policy group.

But there's little question that, as the 2016 campaign cranks into gear, Kasich is taking a different road than his potential GOP rivals.

Google yes, Iowa no

Political experts say that's at least partly dictated by a simple political reality: The GOP governor's support for Common Core and immigration reform, among other issues, would not go over well with the hard-core conservative crowds that line the Republican presidential primary path.

"I don't think he's ever going to be the top candidate of the Christian right or Second Amendment enthusiasts," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College.

Indeed, Kasich missed the National Rifle Association's annual conference in Tennessee this month, when a half-dozen other potential Republican contenders dished out red meat to the crowd. That audience might have recalled Kasich's support for the assault weapons ban in 1994, when he was in Congress.

Why risk a tepid or even hostile reception at such events? Especially when he can find a warm welcome elsewhere.

Take, for example, Kasich's appearance Friday at the New America forum, where Google's Eric Schmidt gave him a gushing introduction.

"He's really impressive at every level," Schmidt told the luncheon crowd, calling him "a political force of significant energy."

Kasich gave a passionate speech about innovation and engagement and fielded meaty questions from CNN's Gloria Borger about everything from U.S. drone strikes to his openness to granting citizenship for undocumented workers.

But Pitney said Kasich's unusual itinerary raises questions about how serious he is. At this point in the race, Kasich should be working hard to win over voters in Iowa and New Hampshire – and raising money like crazy, Pitney said.

Instead, "he seems to be pursuing a strategy of being a second or third choice," Pitney said. Perhaps he's hoping that if "the top-tier candidates all explode, he'll still be standing."

A change in Kasich's thinking

Kasich and his aides sharply reject any contention that he's aiming low.

Doug Preisse, a Columbus lobbyist who is a close adviser to the governor, said Kasich's seemingly haphazard approach to rolling out his presidential bid just reflects the governor's evolving thoughts about whether to run. Last year, when other candidates were preparing their 2016 efforts, Kasich was running for re-election and kicking off his second term, Preisse noted.

"What you see is what you get here," Preisse said. "The No.1 important thing was the re-election. (Then) I think he wanted to take those first months to keep the ship heading in the right direction –and by all accounts that's what he did – and he certainly seems to have begun giving it more and more close and careful thought."

Kasich hasn't avoided candidate forums per se, Preisse said. "I just don't think that he was far enough along in his own thinking about this to have run out there and sought out various forums to appear at," he said.

In Washington last week, Kasich said he was doing all the things necessary to lay the groundwork for a campaign. He noted, for example, that he's raising money with a new political committee, A New Day for America, that can pay for his travel to key presidential states.

At the same time, he said he's in no rush to make up his mind. And he expressed an almost laissez-faire attitude about a White House bid, saying if he can raise enough money and if the public likes his pitch, great. And if not, so be it.

"If (voters) say, 'Not this time or never,' I'm still governor of Ohio, and that ain't bad," Kasich said.