Jim, thanks for that quintessential Kasich story. He has a real
"everyman" quality to his personality: If he thinks Boston is
kicka$$, he'll say Boston is kicka$$. (Whereas I still hide it by
putting the dollar signs where the Esses ["S"s] go.) It's worth
noting that if you had asked me in 1996 or 1998 if I EVER would
support Kasich on the ticket, I would have said "no way!" I had a
little too much of him claiming credit at Budget for the much
harder work done at Appropriations (the only time Approps actually
was cutting the budget, bu a whopping $50 billion in two years) and
at Ways and Means. But in retrospect, Kasich had a hard job, too,
and did it pretty darn well, and didn't lose his way ethically, but
instead kept his bearings. And he has a youthful appeal; heck, I
think I remember that he's even a Grateful Dead fan and is quite
conversant with all sorts of younger pop culture stuff as well. The
more I think about it, the more he moves up in my political
estimation for Veep.