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 Kasich, a potential 2016 presidential contender, touts his zeal
for tax cuts and balanced budgets. But he also says the Republican
Party should be run “from the bottom up, rather than the top down,”
and do more to help the poor, mentally ill and incarcerated.
“I think our actions have to reflect our rhetoric,” Kasich told
Reuters in an interview as he campaigned for Republican candidates
in the industrial city of Youngstown ahead of Tuesday's midterm
elections. “So when we say we’re a party of opportunity, there
should be (opportunity),” he said, adding that in Ohio, Republicans
will “leave no one behind.”
His message is an updated version of former President George W.
Bush's mantra of "compassionate conservative." It is unclear if it
would resonate well enough with Republican voters and donors to make
Kasich a serious contender for the party’s presidential nomination.
But in Ohio, a presidential battleground state, voters seem
receptive. Polls show that in Kasich's campaign to retain the
governor's office, he has a double-digit lead over Democratic
challenger Ed FitzGerald ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
 When asked if he will seek the presidency, Kasich insisted he is
focused on being governor. But he made clear he believes Ohio’s
brand of Republicanism could play well nationally.
“I’m hopeful that the things we are doing in the state will
influence some of the strains of the Republican Party,” he said,
referring to differing currents within the party.
During a three-day bus tour last week, Kasich emphasized caring for
people with addictions, assisting the disabled and reducing offender
recidivism.
Republican candidates on the tour made stops on Thursday at a
factory in rural Richland County, a family-owned deli west of
Cleveland, a church in an Akron suburb and an air compressor
distributor in the Democratic stronghold of Youngstown.
At Dearing Compressor and Pump Co., which has grappled with years of
layoffs at auto and steel plants, Kasich told workers of his
upbringing outside Pittsburgh by parents who were Democrats,
suggesting his brand of Republican policies can work for Democrats
too.
“In 1980, my dad thought about the country ... he voted for Ronald
Reagan, lots of Democrats did,” Kasich said to the subdued but
polite crowd.
OHIO SUCCESSES COULD BE SPRINGBOARD
Kasich, 62, is a former U.S. congressman who won a tight race for
governor against incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland in 2010. After
leaving the U.S. House of Representatives in 2001 he worked for the
investment bank Lehman Brothers until its 2008 bankruptcy, a role
highlighted by Strickland during the 2010 campaign. As he was
leaving the House, he briefly explored a White House bid but had
difficulty raising money.
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Kasich at times speaks in an offhanded manner. Shortly after being
elected governor, he said to a group of state environmental workers
that a police officer who ticketed him was an “idiot,” angering the
law enforcement officers union. A spokesman apologized for his word
choice and Kasich later met with the officer and apologized to him
in person.
Public employees unions are still smarting over a Kasich-backed law
early in his tenure to curb collective bargaining. Voters repealed
the measure and Kasich opted to move onto other issues.
Kasich often cites how Ohio has built up nearly $1.5 billion in
savings in its “Rainy Day Fund,” how the state's unemployment rate
is 5.6 percent, below the 5.9 percent nationwide unemployment rate,
and how its credit rating has improved. The figures would support
his image as a fiscal conservative during a White House bid.
A new health office has allowed Ohio to reduce Medicaid spending,
even while extending coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional
low-income residents under the President Barack Obama's Affordable
Care Act.
Kasich moved ahead with Medicaid expansion despite opposition from
the Republican-controlled legislature. Many other Republican
governors opted out of the expansion, an element of Obamacare. If
Kasich decides to run for president, that could be heavy baggage in
a primary, given the antipathy toward the law among Tea Party
voters.
Strategists say Kasich would have to play to the middle to be a
viable White House contender. Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Kentucky
Senator Rand Paul would draw grassroots support from the party’s
conservative and libertarian wings.
But the middle could be crowded. Potential candidates such as New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
are far better known nationally than Kasich and might amass campaign
cash more easily.
(Reporting By Amanda Becker; Additional reporting by Gabriel
Debenedetti in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Frances Kerry)
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