Kasich signals campaign strategy of running against failures of his own party

By Gerard Valentino

The gloves are officially off in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

During a recent campaign speech in Youngstown, presumptive Republican nominee John Kasich ripped Governor Ted Strickland's time in office as a third term of Bob Taft. There are few things in Ohio politics worse than being compared to former Governor Taft, who presided over statewide economic disaster and the ethical meltdown of the Ohio GOP.

When he left office, some polls showed Taft's approval rating at an unheard of 15%. His political career was in such a shambles at the end of his second term that his own Party chose to override his veto of HB347, which reformed Ohio's concealed carry laws.

There are few characters in Ohio politics as reviled as Taft, yet it isn't equating Strickland to one of Ohio's political failures that will help the Kasich campaign. By tying Strickland to Taft, it distances Kasich's run from the failures of his own Party.

Being a Republican, Kasich needs a way to avoid being considered in the same mold as Taft and former Governor George Voinovich, another failed political figure in Ohio. Voinovich, a U.S. Senator, has fallen so far that he chose not to run for reelection.

If Ohio's voters see Kasich as just another Republican gubernatorial candidate, he can't beat Ted Strickland.

Voters, and particularly conservatives, remain guarded over Kasich's run largely because of the way they see the GOP. It isn't fair to Kasich, but is a political reality.

There is one issue where Kasich is unfortunately living up to the Taft legacy – guns.

Kasich's vote for the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban is well documented. And he missed an opportunity last week, to prove he's had a change of heart, by not taking George Voinovich to task for voting against nationwide concealed carry reciprocity in the U.S Senate.

Other high profile Republican candidates jumped at the chance to show their support for the Second Amendment by scolding Voinovich for his vote, yet Kasich's silence on the issue is deafening.

In the same Youngstown speech, Kasich stated the Ohio GOP is his vehicle for winning the gubernatorial race, not his master.

Those words are music to the ears of Ohio's conservative voters who have long felt jaded by the GOP's willingness to campaign as conservatives and then govern as liberals. During the last sixteen years the GOP controlled the Ohio House, Senate and Governor's mansion, the state's tax burden rose to the third highest in the nation by some estimates.

So, by disavowing the Ohio GOP's past statewide candidates this week, Kasich also disavowed their tax and spend policies. When he equated Ted Strickland to Taft, he is attempting to transfer the anger voters felt for Taft's polices to Strickland. Such a move is an old political trick, but in this case is Kasich gets more than the usual bang for his buck.

He can now claim to be a running against the past failures of his Party, instead of running away from them. That can only help him with voters who were fearful that a Republican governor will bring back the Party's failed policies.

Kasich is hoping conservatives will be energized by knowing he completely disavows what his Party did in the past. The strategy is brilliant, since it allows him to dump the GOP baggage while painting his adversary as the purveyor of Taft's hated polices.

Now, if they can just get him to take the same angle with his 1994 gun ban vote, conservative voters might have the perfect candidate. Until he speaks out definitively against future gun-control, a litmus test for many Ohio conservatives, some uneasiness will remain.

Still, Kasich's speech in Youngstown gives many hope that he won't act as another elitist Republican governor, and that goes a long way.

The problem is, the road to the Governor’s mansion goes through Ohio’s gun owners, and for many a long way isn’t far enough.

Gerard Valentino is the Buckeye Firearms Foundation Treasurer and writes for the ValentinoChronicle.com.