Last year, Ohio’s Republican Governor, John Kasich, frequently tamped down talk that he might run for president, but as the new year has dawned, Kasich seems to be changing his tune and is now hinting openly about a possible run for the White House.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently reported that during a tour through South Dakota Kasich suddenly opened the door to running, saying, “If I think something else makes sense, if I think the field is lacking or there’s an opportunity, I’ll look at it. All my options are open.”
This is a far cry from his constant claims last year as he ran for re-election to the governor’s mansion that he was only interested in serving Ohio. Last March, for instance, Kasich said flat out that he was “not interested” in running for president in 2016.
The governor’s visit to South Dakota, though, seems to have erased his earlier seemingly unambiguous claims to the contrary.
It is beginning to look like murmurs of amazement at his 30-point margin of victory in last year’s election being heard behind the scenes might ultimately be turning his head from the state capital in Columbus to Washington, D.C.
Just after Kasich won re-election last year, for instance, Republican Governors Association Chairman and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that Kasich’s “extraordinary win” makes him an ideal governor to serve as an incubator for GOP policies.
“John Kasich is a really compassionate guy who I think has put forward some very forward-thinking policies in Ohio,” Christie said. “People haven’t noticed Ohio as much last night because it was such a big win but that’s a great job by John Kasich and an affirmation of his policies.”
But Kasich has also undergone some criticism. He has been slammed for expanding Medicaid in his state despite saying that he wouldn’t. He has sustained criticism for saying that a repeal of Obamacare was “not gonna happen.” And he has also been criticized for embracing the left’s Common Core education scheme.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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