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 Kasich, the popular governor of Ohio and a former leading U.S.
congressman, is likely to be the last prominent Republican to enter
the field, which is now up to 16 candidates. His emphasis on long
government service runs counter to other candidates, such as Jeb
Bush, who are positioning themselves as outsiders.
Speaking at Ohio State University, Kasich offered fiscal discipline,
a stronger military and compassionate conservative vision for the
poor if he overcomes long odds to win the Republican nomination and
then the November 2016 election.
Many Republican candidates are keen to avoid being seen as
professional politicians but two-time governor Kasich, 63, listed
his long time in government, including 18 years in the U.S. House of
Representatives, as evidence he can run the country.
"I believe I do have the skills and I have the experience and the
testing which shapes you and prepares you for the most important job
in the world," Kasich, who mounted a short-lived run for the
nomination in the 2000 race, told supporters.
A moderate Republican with a reputation for having a short temper,
he needs to make a mark quickly to qualify for the party's first
debate on Aug. 6.
He ranks 14th out of 16 Republican candidates in a Reuters/Ipsos
online poll, and he is in 12th place in the RealClearPolitics
average of polls.
That puts him in danger of not qualifying for the first Republican
debate on Fox News which will only accept candidates in the top 10
in national polls.
A selling point for Kasich is the economic recovery in Ohio, a swing
state that is likely to be a political battleground in 2016. He
boasts he guided the state's budget from an $8 billion deficit to
surplus without raising taxes, although Democrats say U.S. economic
recovery played a major part.
Kasich is popular in Ohio. A Quinnipiac University poll in June gave
him a 54 percent job approval rating here.
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"THE BUDGET GUY"
As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Kasich played a key role
in balancing the federal budget with a bipartisan deal in 1997.
"Everybody knows me as the budget guy," he said.
"I will promise you that my top priority will get this country on a
path to fiscal independence, strength, and we will rebuild the
economy of this country because creating jobs is our highest moral
purpose," he said.
The U.S. military would be an exception to tight government
spending, he said, because the United States needs to restore its
role in the world.
Conservatives have criticized Kasich for taking federal money for an
expansion of Medicaid in Ohio under President Barack Obama's
signature healthcare law.
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.
"The Lord wants our hearts to reach out to those that don't have
what we have. I mean, that shouldn't be hard for America. That's who
we are," he said.
Kasich said he learned about business as an executive at Lehman
Brothers. The bank collapsed when he worked there in 2008 helping
trigger the global financial crisis and recession that followed.
Kasich flies later on Tuesday to the early-voting state of New
Hampshire, which will be key to his campaign strategy.
(Writing by Alistair Bell and Alex Wilts in Washington; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman)
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