Recent News

Phillip Bump has an intriguing analysis of the 2016 GOP nomination battle over at the Washington Post, arguing there are basically five ‘lanes’ in the contest that the different candidates are competing in. Huckabee and Santorum, for example, are seen as the two candidates expected to challenge each other for dominance in the ‘Evangelical’ lane (although others will certainly try to grab some of that vote as well).

The 2016 GOP presidential race, broken down into 5 ‘lanes’

Ted Cruz, we argued ... Read More >>

John Kasich’s first presidential bid fell victim to the Bush family more than a decade ago.

On the eve of his first political appearance in New Hampshire since then, Ohio’s scrappy Republican governor knows history could repeat itself should he challenge former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the GOP’s crowded 2016 field.

“Jeb’s a very formidable political person,” Kasich told The Associated Press before his visit. Will Kasich run anyway? “All options are on the table,” he said. “I am the governor of Ohio, and, you know, nobody gets to the White House until they go through Ohio.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will make a foray to New Hampshire this week, testing whether another GOP governor with a reputation for compassionate conservatism and the potential for broad appeal can find a place amid the crowded 2016 presidential field.

It’s Mr. Kasich’s second look at running, following a short-lived flirtation in 1999, when he was an up-and-coming member of Congress and was chased from the field by the GOP’s original compassionate conservative governor, George W. Bush.

Columbus, Ohio — Ideas fly from Governor John Kasich like sparks from a flint. While explaining his prison reforms, he interrupts himself mid-sentence — his sentences, like some E. E. Cummings poems, are unpunctuated — to praise a Delaware church that buys prom dresses for low-income high-school girls. His spirit would add spice and his policies would add substance to the Republican presidential contest.

While Ohio Governor John Kasich decides whether to run for president, he’s been to nine states to push for a federal balanced-budget amendment. He went to Washington for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. He’s off to New Hampshire and New York City next week.

National Journal’s Michelle Cottle has a fascinating look at what a potential 2016 campaign by Ohio’s governor, John Kasich, might look like. It takes her a while to get to what appears to be her central thesis, but here it is:

Kasich’s brand of political impatience could fuel or tank his presidential fortunes in 2016. Either way, it would arguably do wonders for the process as a whole. The Republican Party has been struggling to define what it stands for, whom ... Read More >>