Given his logic Rubio Carson Bush Fiorina Huckabee & Paul all should have ALL stayed in the race
By Stuart Rothenberg
If you like John Kasich its time to celebrate! The Ohio governor finally won a primary his home states.
Of course he flopped in all the other contests ending the last round with almost two dozen fewer delegates than Sen. Marco Rubio who exited the GOP race.
Kasichs campaign has bordered on the bizarre. He has survived for two reasons: First he has refused to get out no matter how badly he has done. And second he has been so irrelevant that nobody attacked him leaving him generally unscathed in a race where there is plenty of blood on the floor.
Initially Kasichs candidacy was built on doing well in New Hampshire. And he did if you call drawing 15.8 percent of the vote there doing well." But in finishing second almost 20 points behind the winner Donald Trump Kasich could claim relevance even though he would not win his first primary for another five weeks.
Lets be clear: John Kasich cannot win enough delegates during the primary process to be a factor in the race for the GOP nomination. He hopes that a deadlocked convention will turn to him as someone who could beat Hillary Clinton and save the party
from having to nominate either Donald Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz neither of whom is beloved by party loyalists.
When the primary process ends on June 7 the Ohio Republican will have only a relative handful of delegates and Cruz will be the main alternative to Trump assuming the reality TV host falls short of the 1237 delegates needed for the nomination.
Given Kasichs logic Rubio Ben Carson Jeb Bush Carly Fiorina Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul all should have stayed in the race since each of them had at least one delegate. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might as well return to the race since he is still undefeated.
Kasichs decision to stay in a race in which he has so far failed to make a mark outside his home state led National Review editor Rich Lowry to say Sunday on ABCs This Week that Kasich is playing a selfish and delusional role."
Rubio was pretty clear about his views as well. After his Florida defeat he traveled to Minnesota to thank his supporters urging them to support Cruz since he is the only conservative left in the race."
Kasichs campaign has been dogged by the ultimate contradiction this year: He has insisted he is challenging the establishment and running as an outsider. And yet Kasichs support has come primarily from Republican pragmatists who like his relatively moderate
positioning or see him as the most electable.
In Ohio Kasich campaigned with Romney who urged state voters to cast their ballots for the governor as part of a stop-Trump strategy. Certainly that indicated Kasich was the choice of the GOP establishment didnt it?
Of course not says Kasich who often refers to his service in the House but insists that the establishment fears him.
Just dont look behind the curtain because if you do you will see that Kasichs supporters and advisers include party establishment types like consultant Charlie Black former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber long-time party strategist Stu Spencer former Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu and New Hampshire veteran GOP operative Tom Rath.
There is nothing wrong with that team except that it was the establishment before anyone was complaining about the establishment."
Conservatives really dont trust Kasich. He expanded Medicaid in the state while most Republican governors refused to do so and he botched an effort to squeeze public sector unions as Walker did in the Badger State. And of course Kasich still has his long list of
endorsements and kind words from liberal editorial writers and opinion columnists who have long seen him as the only reasonable Republican in the GOP race. (In Congress Kasich voted for an assault weapons ban).
Kasich talks repeatedly about his successes as governor including his overwhelming re-election. And its true he was re-elected easily. Of course thats what happens when your Democratic opponent is caught in a car in a parking lot at 4:30 a.m. with a woman who is not his wife. And it didnt hurt Kasich that his opponents party essentially disowned its nominee thereby allowing the governor to run for re-election against a political cadaver.
The Ohio governor is running a positive" campaign. He wants to bring America together again. Well thats a novel idea. I hadnt heard that before. Of course Kasichs strategy caused him to avoid taking on Trump leaving the dirty work to other GOP candidates with more courage. Only now very late in the game has the Ohio hopeful been explicitly critical of Trump.
Whatever you think of Kasich his strategy has worked at least to a degree. He is one of only three Republicans still in the race.
Now if he could only win a race here and there he might even justify his continued candidacy.
Stuart Rothenberg is editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.
