Any Lakewood Love for "Kasich for President"?

[Michael Deneen]

Today is the day when Gov. Kasich becomes the 16th entry into the GOP "Battle Royal" for the presidential nomination.

Despite Ohio's crucial role on the electoral map, there hasn't been an Ohio president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923.
Unless I'm mistaken, no Ohioan has made a serious run at the Oval Office since John Glenn in 1984 (and even that was a very lame campaign).

He's very far behind in the national polls....but he did beat our former Mayor last November in Lakewood by a 55-45 margin.

I have a few questions for the peanut gallery:

1. Are any of you Lakewood Republicans out there planning to vote for him? Why or why not?

2. Would any Lakewood Democrats be willing to consider voting for him in the general if he were the nominee? Is there such a thing as "home state love" that could transcend party affiliation?

3. If Kasich becomes president, which Lakewood School would be renamed for him?

[cameron karslake]

Man, is he a glutton for punishment or what? Guess his ego got the best of him.

[michael gill]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ans ... his-state/

" . . .
Meanwhile, the Ohio Education Department in Kasich’s administration is in turmoil. David Hansen, his administration’s chief for school choice and charter schools resigned over this past weekend after admitting that he had unilaterally withheld failing scores of charter schools in state evaluations of the schools’ sponsor organizations so they wouldn’t look so bad. (Hansen’s wife, incidentally, is Kasich’s chief of staff, who is taking a leave from that post to work on his campaign.) There are growing calls now for the resignation of the Kasich-backed state superintendent of education, Richard Ross. . . ."

[Dan OMalley]

Mike -

I guess that depends on what you mean by a "serious" run for president - of course Kasich ran once before in 2000 and Kucinich ran in 2004 and 2008.

I would hope no Lakewood Democrats consider voting for Kasich out of "home state loyalty" - he hasn't reciprocated. Lakewood's revenues have been decimated by his cuts to local government funding, and one of his first acts as governor was to propose nearly $2 million in cuts to Lakewood schools.

[Michael Deneen]

I guess that depends on what you mean by a "serious" run for president - of course Kasich ran once before in 2000 and Kucinich ran in 2004 and 2008.

Good call, Dan.
I didn't count the Kasich 2000 run because he never made it to the first primary.
I totally forgot about Kucinich, though....which itself is a reflection of the seriousness of that campaign.

Man, is he a glutton for punishment or what? Guess his ego got the best of him.

There are so many candidates now that there is no incentive NOT to jump in.
Ironically, the only guy who was frightened away by Bush's money was Mitt Romney.
If Walker implodes, Kasich could theoretically become the Koch Candidate, which would give him funding to last against Bush until the end.

More realistically, I tend to think Kasich is running for VP..... Bush/Kasich would combine Florida and Ohio, two "must have" states for the GOP.

[Matthew Lee]

More realistically, I tend to think Kasich is running for VP..... Bush/Kasich would combine Florida and Ohio, two "must have" states for the GOP.

This. Kasich has no real shot at the Presidency. But he could be seen as a viable Vice-President and, by entering the race, has more visibility than if we just sat out of the race.

Ironically, the best role a VP candidate can do is be the attack dog in a campaign. Let the presidential candidate take the high road while the VP attacks from below. Being an attack dog, dareIsay "jerk", is a trait that Kasich has in spades. It is a very realistic possibility for Kasich to be VP for Bush.

[christopher dan]

NO!! NOT at all!! Anyone can believe in god, you have the right to believe anything you want!....if you want to pray to a rock, worship, wish and hope for something magical to happen, who am i to say your wrong or its not correct! it doesn't effect me!! However if you make decisions for an entire country based on a magical, mythical person in the sky, say you are a devoted christian, and you will run the country based on a novel from 2000 years ago, you just lost my vote! Hell, i wouldn't vote for him if he was the only person running. Its no different then the Muslims who are extreme fundamentalist yelling ALLAH Akbar and saying Mohammed is the all mighty!!! trying to push the religion an Everyone!. I am a secular agnostic, I think that being able to dissect, create, and critical think is essential to running a country. Rational reasoning skills, not for asking god to show you the way. I am for gay rights, I am for equal treatment of woman and minority groups, but i am not for a government influenced by a God...any God....it is said that he will come back to judge the living and the dead. Ok, What is he waiting for????? I think we need a president, democratic or republican that is an atheist. and just because they are an athiest doesn't not mean there is no moral compass...... Rant

[Michael Deneen]

NO!! NOT at all!! Anyone can believe in god, you have the right to believe anything you want!....if you want to pray to a rock, worship, wish and hope for something magical to happen, who am i to say your wrong or its not correct! it doesn't effect me!! However if you make decisions for an entire country based on a magical, mythical person in the sky, say you are a devoted christian, and you will run the country based on a novel from 2000 years ago, you just lost my vote! Hell, i wouldn't vote for him if he was the only person running. Its no different then the Muslims who are extreme fundamentalist yelling ALLAH Akbar and saying Mohammed is the all mighty!!! trying to push the religion an Everyone!. I am a secular agnostic, I think that being able to dissect, create, and critical think is essential to running a country. Rational reasoning skills, not for asking god to show you the way. I am for gay rights, I am for equal treatment of woman and minority groups, but i am not for a government influenced by a God...any God....it is said that he will come back to judge the living and the dead. Ok, What is he waiting for????? I think we need a president, democratic or republican that is an atheist. and just because they are an athiest doesn't not mean there is no moral compass...... Rant

Does this mean you're not supporting Mike Huckabee?

To be fair, I'll bet that all 21 candidates on both sides at some point invoke some form of religion.

Questions I ponder:
In what year will an openly atheist president be elected? 2040? 2060? later?
Will the first atheist president be elected before the first Muslim president? (insert your own "Obama Birther" jokes here)