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Political Hay
The Kasich Comeback
The budget-balancer of the '90s could be Ohio’s next governor.
John Kasich rarely gets any credit for the 1990s economic boom. But as chairman of the House Budget Committee after 1995, he played a key role in the budget agreement that erased chronic deficits, replaced them with surpluses, and passed a pro-growth capital gains tax cut on the eve of the dot-com gold rush. Being a presidential country, Bill Clinton’s name is always the one you hear when people look for a politician to praise for this record.
So in a way it will be fitting if a backlash against another Democratic president, Barack Obama, helps elect Kasich governor of Ohio next week. Of course, the credit should not go to Obama alone: Kasich has run an energetic campaign, picking up exactly where he left off after a decade out of politics. Gov. Ted Strickland, the Democratic incumbent, has seen his once-solid job approval rating slide with the economy, all the way down to 39 percent.
In the back-and-forth political climate of the past ten years, few states have been as volatile as Ohio. It swung dramatically to the Democrats in 2006 and 2008 after more than a dozen years of Republican rule. Just this month, ABC News predicted November would be a “bloodbath” for Obama’s party in the Buckeye State.
But nothing has been easy about this gubernatorial slugfest in a perennial swing state. Some polls still show the race neck-and-neck; CNN/Time has Strickland clinging to a 1-point lead. A just-released Quinnipiac poll found Kasich leading by 6 points among likely voters, 49 percent to 43 percent. The RealClearPolitics polling average has the Republican up by 2.8 percentage points.
When I caught up with Kasich earlier in the campaign, he hadn’t lost any of his 1990s-era enthusiasm. (I was attending college in Kasich’s district at the time, where he memorably told me that Boston, my hometown, was “a kick-ass city.”) “People are looking for leadership and a way out of the mess,” Kasich said. “Ted Strickland is a nice guy. But when you have a crisis, you’re looking for more than somebody to sing ‘Kumbuya’ with you and bring you some donuts.”
Strickland hasn’t exactly made “Kumbuya” his campaign theme song nor has he invited Kasich over for donuts. When Kasich called for replacing the Ohio Department of Development with a private, nonprofit corporation run by a 12-member board appointed by the governor, Strickland ran an ad claiming that the development department would be run by Wall Street CEOs eligible for unlimited compensation. To make this argument, the commercial misleadingly spliced together Kasich’s comments about the proposal out of context — and in some cases, to make him sound like he was saying the opposite of what was said in his full remarks.
Mytheos Holt, a young conservative blogger, called the Strickland campaign on it. But the distortions didn’t stop there. Strickland’s team has also falsely charged that Kasich has earned an “F” from the National Rifle Association, when in fact the Republican gubernatorial nominee has a “B.” Kasich’s “F” was a single-year grade that dates back to his 1994 vote for the crime bill containing the now-defunct assault weapons ban. (Though you know it’s an odd year when the NRA endorses the Democratic candidate for governor and the Cleveland Plain Dealer endorses the Republican.) When local reporters questioned them about this sleight of hand, the Strickland campaign responded weakly, “Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.”
Indeed. That’s what has gotten Strickland in trouble in the first place: voters fear that another four years of his administration would mean more jobs leaving Ohio, a sluggish business climate, a decaying manufacturing sector, and an unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent. In fairness, many of these things were true under Strickland’s Republican predecessors as well. But Kasich is breaking from the Voinovich-Taft tax timidity with a proposal to scrap the state income tax.
“We can create jobs in Ohio,” Kasich told me. “We can thrive in a high-tech, competitive marketplace. But to do that, you need reform everywhere from the education system to the tax system.” Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH), a former Kasich aide and his successor in Congress, is a believer. “John can reach a lot of ordinary working people who tune most Republicans out,” he says. “He gets it. He has a rare combination of a common touch, a really good grasp of policy, and good taste in rock music.”
Democrats have pounded Kasich for working at Lehman Brothers, the investment firm’s whose bankruptcy was an early warning shot in the 2008 financial meltdown. But Kasich’s Lehman work hasn’t affected his standing in the polls as much as his detractors hoped or his admirers feared. He is much better known for his nine terms in the House and his stint as a Fox News commentator.
If Tuesday winds up looking anything like 1994, Ohio may find itself with a governor who is a seasoned veteran of the first Republican Revolution. Those who still remember the country’s last balanced federal budgets may recall that Kasich won a few battles back then.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
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wodiej| 10.27.10 @ 6:33AM
great article. I recently had a letter to the editor published in our local paper responding to a liberal who claimed Clinton's success in creating jobs w no credit to the Republican controlled congress. I corrected that.
Some states already have no state income tax such as Florida and many business people move there for that reason. Gov't clings to these taxes for fear of loss of revenue when really it increases it. Try reducing waste and spending for a few years while business gears up w the elimination of this tax and states would see positive results beyond their expectations. Do we have any governors with enough guts to do it?
wodiej| 10.27.10 @ 6:33AM
great article. I recently had a letter to the editor published in our local paper responding to a liberal who claimed Clinton's success in creating jobs w no credit to the Republican controlled congress. I corrected that.
Some states already have no state income tax such as Florida and many business people move there for that reason. Gov't clings to these taxes for fear of loss of revenue when really it increases it. Try reducing waste and spending for a few years while business gears up w the elimination of this tax and states would see positive results beyond their expectations. Do we have any governors with enough guts to do it?
bluecollarbytes| 10.27.10 @ 8:46AM
I've always liked John Kasich since hearing & watching him during the days-o-clinton, and thought he would be presidential material in the future. Whether he ever runs, it's encouraging to have another true conservative who is media-savvy.
Charles R. Williams| 10.27.10 @ 9:58AM
Kasich understands that Ohio must become more like Texas and less like California to get moving again. He has a credible record in Congress. If Strickland is re-elected Ohio will die. Taft, Voinovich and Strickland are three peas in a pod. Kasich knows what it takes to turn Ohio around and knows how to get it done.
Quartermaster| 10.27.10 @ 3:58PM
I lived in Ohio during Taft and Voinovich's misrule. We used to call Voinovich "King George." What we called Taft is not printable. Both are a couple of Sad Sack politicians not worth the bullets it would take to kill them. Strickland is, indeed, peas in a pod with these two.
bob alou| 10.27.10 @ 10:03AM
Don't thank John Kasich, thank Wayne Struble.
Qwilly| 10.27.10 @ 10:06AM
When Kasich called for replacing the Ohio Department of Development with a private, nonprofit corporation run by a 12-member board appointed by the governor, Strickland ran an ad claiming that the development department would be run by Wall Street CEOs eligible for unlimited compensation. What a novel idea! Kasich is a profit motivated individual. There is no way beaurocrates like Strickland could ever understand the dialouge..
Redstateboy| 10.27.10 @ 10:53AM
what if a State Govenor went to the people and said he'd like to try an experiment?? Give me two years to see if it'll work.. we'll dump the State Income tax, privitize the Hell out of things like DMV, etc. ect.. drop all corp. and state taxes to 10% and then see what happens.. What's really sick?? is everyone knows what would happened.. that States economy would explode with growth, jobs, revenue.. and then - Once and for All.. The Liber-ul Democrat BS would be forever discredited.
RCV| 10.27.10 @ 12:10PM
I'm a staunch Democrat, but I have to confess that I like John Kasich after watching him for years as a television pundit. He's a smart, decent, clear-thinking guy with good judgment and a sense of reasonableness lacking in so many candidates this year.
Jack Bauer| 10.27.10 @ 3:35PM
Name it Obama One, and we'll have our first volunteer.
I'm sure there will be great demand for Community Organizers on Mars.
It is, after all, the Red Planet!
RCV| 10.27.10 @ 7:33PM
I guess we'll have to wait for missions to the outer planets to get Republicans like you to go. After all, they're the Gas Giants.
Yosemeti Sam| 10.28.10 @ 6:21AM
" ... "John can reach a lot of ordinary working people who tune most Republicans out," he says. "He gets it. He has a rare combination of a common touch, a really good grasp of policy, and good taste in rock music."...."
IOW - he ARTICULATES without mumbo jumbo!
George P. Stoe| 10.28.10 @ 8:40AM
John Kasich is a good and decent man. He is smart, politically savvy and has a remarkable record of getting things done. The State of Ohio needs John to lead us out of the darkness and back to the light of growth and prosperity. He is the future of Ohio.
Ed| 10.28.10 @ 2:25PM
I live in Ohio, and I agree with G.P. Stoe that Kasich is a decent guy who deserves a shot as Governor. Gov. Strickland is also a decent guy but he is in way over his head.
What Ohio needs is to be more like New Hampshire, with its low tax environment. Ohio has farming, manufacturing , and inventing deep in its DNA, but it needs to get back to its roots.
Jeff | 10.28.10 @ 4:46PM
The Republicans would not be neck and neck for governor, if they hadn't picked such a damaged candidate. Kasich got the Ohio Pension fund into Lehman Brothers stock (where he worked) and watched as the crash took millions in Ohio pension funds away and causing issues for the current administration. I'm sure a candidate w/ less baggage could have been found, but wasn't. It's sad.
Dotty R.| 10.29.10 @ 10:49AM
I know John Kasich. He has grown into this job
through adversity, introspection and the desire
to serve. It helps to have his smile and his love
of what he is doing. He has listened and learned,
and I know another John and a Ron who could
be looking down from Heaven and smiling and
thinking "we did well with that boy."
Nancy| 10.31.10 @ 8:44PM
My entire family is voting for John Kasich! He's one of the most straight up people I've seen for many years. He has an incredible record and if anyone can bring Ohio out of the mess it's in...it's Kasich. If Strickland wins (God forbid), Ohio is dead!
danshanteal| 12.24.10 @ 3:10PM
I once wrote to Gov Strickland all the way from Oregon, tellling him how impressed I was with progress in Ohio. He actually wrote back. So why did a guy ten years out of office beat an incumbent governor? I think it's called destiny. If Sarah has it and Barry had it, then John Kasich surely has it. I hope he runs for higher office.