Ohio Gov. John Kasich touted the optimistic tone of his campaign in his speech celebrating his second place finish behind Donald Trump in the New Hampshire GOP primary.
“We never went negative,” Kasich said, arguing that “tens of millions” of dollars were spent by other campaigns to attack him.
“Maybe, just maybe, we are turning the page on a dark part of American politics because tonight, the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigns,” Kasich said. Trump won the New Hampshire primary handily, leading the pack by nearly 20 percentage points according to returns midway through the evening.
Kasich was one of a number of governors who bet big on New Hampshire, and his second-place finish will help him position himself — at least in the short-term — as the GOP candidate who can take on Trump.
“Tonight we head to South Carolina, and we will move through South Carolina, all across this country, and we’ll end up in the Midwest and you just wait,” Kasich said. “Let me tell you, there’s so much that’s going to happen. If you don’t have a seat belt, go get one. We’re going to shake this country from top to bottom.”
Gee - talk about mixed emotions. While on the one hand I’m glad to see a real alternative to Donald Trump, I’m also worried that Kasich could surge ahead and actually go the distance. Trump would be easy to beat in the general. Kasich - not so much.
Kasich’s speech is ironic.
1 - He didn’t win. He came in 2nd place but he gave a damn victory speech.
2 - This is NH. He campaigned heavily, and it was his best bet outside of maybe Ohio.
3 - No one spent millions of dollars attacking him. In fact, he’s been a completely nobody. Which is EXACTLY why he came 2nd.
4 - Did I mention that he didn’t win, and came 2nd with about half the number of votes as the guy who is famous for firing people?
Trump and Cruz can paint him as the king of the establishment, life time politician guy. he was state senator at 26, a congressman who was part of welfare reform that President Clinton passed (so they can say he’s chummy with the Clintons), obviously a governor, worked on Fox News, worked for Lehman brothers. so, there are attack points that the stupid base of the republican party, who are apparently anti-establishment, can feed on.
he scares me the most, for sure.
In 2008, the GOP nominated McCain and lost the general election.
“He lost, because he wasn’t a real conservative,” the bloggers and AM radio mouths said, “and because voters were unhappy with Bush, who didn’t govern as a conservative.”
In 2012, the GOP nominated Romney and lost the general election.
“He lost, because he wasn’t a real conservative,” the bloggers and AM radio mouths said. “Never again,” said the base voters, who went headhunting for “establishment” Republicans in the 2014 elections.
In terms of resume, demeanor, and ideological positioning versus the rest of the field, the 2016 GOP candidate who most resembles Mitt Romney is Kasich. Are GOP voters, who seem more eager than ever to be championed by a “real” conservative, going to give up their dream once again? I’m having trouble buying that.