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.
