He's certainly had the best of both worlds. National exposure on Fox News keeps his credentials alive as well as his conservative views current, while at the same time he's been able to stay away from any dirty business. So he was nowhere around when the local scandals hit the Ohio GOP."I've made it clear to people that I'm going to look at the governor's office. I hope that Ted Strickland will do a good job so I won't have to go around the state doing this stuff."
More than three years away from that potential confrontation, Kasich, the 54-year-old former congressman from Westerville and 2000 presidential aspirant, is preparing to re-enter politics by hitting the rubberchicken circuit to reconnect with the state's Republican grass roots.
Timing is everything and luck counts for a lot. But what is really firing up the base is a no-holds-barred conservative message:
The current governor, Democrat Ted Strickland has a long time to prove himself, but he already made a major gaffe and has taken flak from the Ohio media over the Iraq refugee story. Strickland's honeymoon is over and there are several high-profile issues that he will need to wrestle with where at least one side will be very unhappy.A fierce deficit hawk and darling of fiscal conservatives, Kasich said that if he were elected governor, he might become unpopular quickly by taking painful steps to make Ohio economically competitive and repair an education system he views as failing.
"If I were to do this, this would create the biggest amount of change and upheaval to save this state that people have seen maybe since Jim Rhodes was governor. If the change and upheaval doesn't come, we're not going to survive."
John Kasich is preparing the ground. In two or three years he will be ready. The big news here is that a down and disheartened Ohio GOP has been given some hope for the future.
